Italy hand Zidane first defeat as they set up three-way Nations League qualification battle

Italy defeated France 3-1 at the San Siro, a result that Yahoo Sports reports handed Zinedine Zidane his first defeat as the head coach of Les Bleus. IOL noted that the victory turns Group A1 into a dramatic three-way race for Nations League qualification alongside Belgium heading into the final match on Sunday.

In Group A3, England secured a place in the Nations League quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory over Croatia. According to Gulf News and Malay Mail, Morgan Rogers scored for England in the first half before Petar Sucic equalized for Croatia following a mistake by Jarell Quansah. England regained the lead through a Harry Kane penalty, which was awarded after a VAR review involving Ivan Smolcic and Quansah.

Kane’s goal marked his 126th appearance and brought his international tally to 92 goals. Al Jazeera reports that the win moved England to second place in the group behind Spain.

Spain maintained a perfect record in the competition with a 2-0 win against Czechia in Prague, featuring goals from Álex Baena and Marc Pubill. Malay Mail reports this was Spain's fifth straight victory and extended their unbeaten run in competitive matches to 44. Spain currently tops the section with 15 points ahead of Sunday's match against England at Madrid's Metropolitano.

Brief written by urgent.news from IOL, Yahoo Sports, Al Jazeera, Gulf News, Malay Mail — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.