France head coach Zinedine Zidane has defended Michael Olise following criticism of the winger’s second-half performance in their 3-1 defeat to Italy in the UEFA Nations League.

Olise gave France an early lead at the San Siro on Thursday, November 12, capitalising on a mistake by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 10th minute.

However, his influence appeared to diminish after the break as Italy took control of the contest, scoring three goals to complete an impressive comeback.

Responding to questions about the Bayern Munich forward’s performance, Zidane dismissed suggestions that Olise was solely responsible for France’s struggles in the second half.

“You can’t always be brilliant for 90 minutes. He made quite an impression on us during the first training camp and was very good,” Zidane said.

He added that the entire French team struggled after the interval, insisting that the collective performance, rather than Olise’s individual display, was the bigger concern.

The former Real Madrid manager also sparked interest when asked whether he would consider deploying Olise in the number 10 role instead of his usual right-wing position.

“You’ll see in the next match,” he responded.

Olise’s possible positional adjustment will therefore be one of the talking points ahead of France’s next Nations League fixture against Turkey.