Gusto suffers collapse at San Siro while Zidane soothes supporters
While Chelsea full‑back Malo Gusto endured a nightmarish evening under the Milanese rain at San Siro, France manager Zinédine Zidane chose to publicly defend him, creating a striking contrast between the on‑field disaster and the diplomacy on the bench.
On Thursday, the Bleus lost 1‑3 to Italy, and Malo Gusto endured a true crucifixion on the San Siro pitch. Positioned on the right flank in the absence of Jules Koundé and Pierre Kalulu, the Chelsea player sank in the Milanese rain, displaying worrying nervousness from the first minutes.
The evening went sour in the 26th minute when the 23‑year‑old full‑back was outrun by a sharp acceleration from Nicolo Cambiaghi, who equalised for Italy. Unable to contain his opponent, the former Lyon player then made several errors, notably giving the Italians an avoidable penalty for a clumsy foul on Cambiaghi, which was missed by Sebastiano Esposito.
The young international’s ordeal continued in the 73rd minute, when he was again late on Federico Dimarco’s cross, which was collected by Davide Frattesi. Deprived of club minutes in recent weeks, the Bleus’ number 2 eventually handed his place to Saël Kumbedi a quarter‑hour before the final whistle.
Reactions and controversy
This calamitous performance revives the debate over the right‑back position in the national team, while the frustrated tricolour supporters are calling for his removal. Zinédine Zidane, missing Jules Koundé and Pierre Kalulu, persists in wanting to slot Warren Zaïre‑Emery into the midfield before the match against Turkey on Sunday in Bordeaux, despite Gusto’s disaster. Faced with the media storm, the Bleus’ boss tried to defuse the controversy during the post‑match press conference.
Refusing to publicly scapegoat his defender, Zinédine Zidane said: “He played his match, he did his best. These are things that happen. I don’t think we can say he had a bad match like that. It’s the whole collective performance that I analyse. I don’t want to focus on individualities.” This benevolence contrasts with the cold anger of the supporters, who now demand his outright removal from the squad. On X, messages targeting Malo Gusto flooded the evening, such as “Malo Gusto out”, “Malo Gusto must no longer be seen in the Bleus” or “Malo Gusto, thanks but goodbye”. There were also posts like “It’s a professional mistake to start him at this level, he gets eaten on every duel from the start of the match”, and “Zidane can defend him as much as he wants in front of the cameras, but the blue shirt is far too heavy for him. Bring Koundé back quickly or put Zaïre‑Emery in!”.