Zinedine Zidane defends Malo Gusto's performance for France

France manager Zinedine Zidane has defended the performance of Chelsea defender Malo Gusto during the Nations League defeat to Italy on the road yesterday.

Les Blues suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss at San Siro yesterday, and it was a poor outing, particularly for the backline. Gusto got the nod at right-back and had a forgettable game indeed.

His defensive error contributed to the opening goal before he conceded a penalty that was saved. He was eventually subbed off after a booking and was criticised by the French media.

After the game, Zidane acknowledged that Gusto conceded a penalty but added that he did not have a bad game and refused to analyse further any individual performances.

He said: "I don’t think we can say that he had a bad game. ‘So there you have it, now I’m doing the analysis as a whole anyway, I’m not talking about individuals."

Gusto has had a tough time with the Blues this campaign with the lack of regular minutes, and this was probably a reason behind his underwhelming performance for Les Bleus.