La Marseillaise booed at San Siro: outrage after France's 3-1 defeat

France fell 3-1 to Italy at San Siro on Thursday night in the UEFA Nations League. Michael Olise had opened the scoring for the Blues, before the Azzurri turned the match around to win decisively.

But the evening left another mark, off the pitch. During the playing of La Marseillaise, part of the San Siro crowd drowned out the French anthem with boos, provoking immediate outrage. The Italian players, led by Gianluigi Donnarumma, responded by applauding the tricolour anthem, as if to distance themselves from the stands’ behaviour.

Journalist Bertrand Latour expressed his anger on social media X: “After the Belgians, the Italians are booing La Marseillaise. Donnarumma and his teammates forced to applaud in response. Disgusting.” He was referring to an identical incident that occurred on 28 September, when Belgian supporters had also booed the French anthem during a previous match in the competition.

This incident is part of a pattern that is beginning to spark debate: for the second time in a few weeks, La Marseillaise has been met with jeers in an away stadium. While the gesture from the Italian players was praised, it was not enough to erase the bitterness of an already difficult evening for Zinédine Zidane’s men, who suffered a heavy defeat in their UEFA Nations League campaign.