Donnarumma wary of France despite Mbappe absence
Gianluigi Donnarumma says Kylian Mbappe's absence will not make Italy underestimate France ahead of its top-of-the-table UEFA Nations League clash.
Both teams have already qualified for the quarter-finals, but top spot in Group A2 is still up for grabs.
Italy currently sits top of the pile, three points ahead of France, which it beat 3-1 in early September, but a win for Les Bleus could see the Azzurri drop to second.
However, for the second international break in a row, France is without captain Mbappe, with Didier Deschamps insisting he made the decision to leave the Real Madrid forward out of the squad.
France is unbeaten in its past three games without Mbappe, winning two and drawing one, and while it struggled in front of goal against Israel in a 0-0 stalemate last time out, Donnarumma believes it will still pose a threat to his side.
"Yes, I don't know about the choices that are made in other squads. I don't know what happened, it's [Mbappe] certainly an important absence," Donnarumma said.
"I know Kylian, he is one of the strongest in the world and if he was here, he could have troubled us a lot, but there will be other players.
"I know all of them well, they have great quality, strong strikers like [Bradley] Barcola, [Randal] Kolo Muani and [Warren] Zaire-Emery, who play with me. Barcola is an incredible talent, so they have very strong substitutes who can bother us."
Italy is unbeaten in the UEFA Nations League, only dropping points in a 2-2 draw with Belgium in October after going down to 10 men.
It comes on the back of a disappointing UEFA Euro 2024 campaign where it was knocked out in the Round of 16 by Switzerland, winning just one game in its title defence.
However, Donnarumma believes Italy has found its rhythm again and has more in common with the UEFA Euro 2020 winning team.
"It's a healthy group, I'm starting to see the spirit of the old European championship," he added. "They're all young guys who want to show what they can do, who want to wear this jersey.
"The difficult part is to continue these performances. Our goal now is to continue to improve, work and enjoy ourselves and entertain the fans."
