Lucas Digne Ruled Out as Another Injury Hits France

Football - Premier League - Aston Villa v Southampton - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - September 16, 2022 Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard and Lucas Digne celebrate after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Aston Villa v Southampton - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - September 16, 2022 Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard and Lucas Digne celebrate after the match. (Reuters)
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Lucas Digne Ruled Out as Another Injury Hits France

Football - Premier League - Aston Villa v Southampton - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - September 16, 2022 Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard and Lucas Digne celebrate after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Aston Villa v Southampton - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - September 16, 2022 Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard and Lucas Digne celebrate after the match. (Reuters)

A host of injuries have struck France in the leadup to a pair of Nations League matches later this week.

The French football federation on Tuesday added Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne to a long list of injured players ahead of matches against Austria and Denmark.

France coach Didier Deschamps has called up Rennes left-back Adrien Truffert as a replacement for Digne, who has a problem with his right ankle, the federation said.

Digne had been a late addition to the training camp, having joined his teammates on Monday after AC Milan defender Théo Hernandez was withdrawn from the squad because of a torn adductor muscle.

France captain Hugo Lloris has also been ruled out of the games, because of a right thigh injury, and replaced by Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont.

France plays Austria on Thursday and travels to Copenhagen three days later to take on Denmark.

Les Bleus face relegation to the second tier of the Nations League. The defending champions are in last place in Group 1 with two points from four games. Denmark leads with nine.

On Saturday, Marseille midfielder Jordan Veretout was called up as a replacement for the injured Boubacar Kamara, the day after Kamara had replaced Adrien Rabiot.

Deschamps also needs to deal with the absence of several other players including Paul Pogba, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kanté.



Inter Milan Reaches Italian Cup Quarterfinals

Inter Milan's Kristjan Asllani (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 goal during the Italian Cup soccer match between Inter Milan and Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, 19 December 2024. EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO
Inter Milan's Kristjan Asllani (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 goal during the Italian Cup soccer match between Inter Milan and Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, 19 December 2024. EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO
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Inter Milan Reaches Italian Cup Quarterfinals

Inter Milan's Kristjan Asllani (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 goal during the Italian Cup soccer match between Inter Milan and Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, 19 December 2024. EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO
Inter Milan's Kristjan Asllani (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 goal during the Italian Cup soccer match between Inter Milan and Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, 19 December 2024. EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

A much-changed Inter Milan side eased to a 2-0 victory over Udinese in the Italian Cup on Thursday.
Marko Arnautović and Kristjan Asllani netted in the first half to help Inter set up a quarterfinal match against Lazio — the team it routed 6-0 in the league on Monday. Inter coach Simone Inzaghi made eight changes to that side, The Associated Press reported.
The match was briefly halted shortly before halftime when a spectator collapsed in the stands. The fan was immediately treated as the stadium fell into silence and the players looked on, clearly concerned.
A defibrillator had to be used before the fan was carried out on a stretcher to the applause of the San Siro crowd. The fan was reportedly stable in the hospital.
When play resumed after a delay of more than five minutes, the Udinese players still seemed distracted as Asllani’s corner from the left evaded everyone and went in off the far post.
That put Inter 2-0 up as it had broken the deadlock in the 30th minute following an Udinese error. A hideous pass from visiting midfielder Jurgen Ekkelenkamp was straight at Mehdi Taremi and he fed in Arnautović, who slotted into the bottom right corner.
Taremi hit the post in the second half, while Inter also had an early penalty revoked on review.
Teenage defender Mike Aidoo came on two minutes from time for Inter for his professional debut.