Disastrous against Italy, Malo Gusto dropped from France squad before Turkey clash

Malo Gusto will not travel to Bordeaux on Sunday to face Turkey. The Chelsea right-back has been dropped from the France squad following a nightmarish evening at San Siro, where the Blues lost 3-1 to Italy.

Deployed in the absence of regular starters Jules Koundé and Pierre Kalulu, the 23-year-old struggled from the opening minutes in the Milan rain. In the 26th minute, he was caught out by an acceleration from Nicolo Cambiaghi, directly leading to Italy’s equalizer. Unable to contain his opponent throughout the match, Gusto then conceded an avoidable penalty on the same Cambiaghi in the 60th minute — fortunately missed by Sebastiano Esposito. His evening ended in the 73rd minute when he was caught out of position on Federico Dimarco’s cross, which Davide Frattesi converted for Italy’s third goal. Replaced fifteen minutes before the final whistle by debutant Saël Kumbedi, the former Lyon player left the pitch to criticism.

Hampered by a glaring lack of playing time at Chelsea in recent weeks, Gusto paid the price for his physical and tactical shortcomings. His poor display reignites the recurring question about France’s right-back position, especially as Zinédine Zidane insists on deploying Warren Zaïre-Emery in midfield rather than on his right flank, where the PSG player has previously excelled.

At his press conference, the manager refused to criticize his defender: “He played his match, he did his best. These things happen. I don’t think you can say he played a bad match like that. It’s the overall collective performance that I analyze. I don’t want to focus on individuals.” A public show of support that contrasts sharply with the intensity of supporter criticism on social media, where calls for Gusto’s permanent exclusion from the squad flooded in throughout the evening.