Les Bleus were without the commanding presence of N’Golo Kante in midfield and fell behind, just as they had in the semi-final against Belgium earlier in the week.

Yet strikes from Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe in the final 25 minutes at the San Siro sealed victory and ensured the world champions added another title to their trophy cabinet following a disappointing Euro 2020 campaign.

For Spain, Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso were deployed at right-back and left-back respectively, the latter winning his fifth international cap and his second in four days following his first call-up in three years.

In an even first period, both sides sought to play quickly out from the back in the face of some intense pressing. Azpilicueta had to be on high alert against the pace of Benzema and Mbappe, with the Chelsea skipper clearing from inside his own six-yard box with goalkeeper Unai Simon stranded after Paul Pogba had threaded a perfect pass through for the Real Madrid striker.

Down the other end, Alonso looked to repeat his trick of causing problems for Hugo Lloris with a cheeky free-kick that briefly caught the Spurs man by surprise but flew narrowly wide. The 30-year-old then did well to thwart Mbappe down the right as France threatened in the second half, although it was La Roja who struck first in the final when Mikel Oyarzabal produced a smart left-footed finish to make it 1-0.

That came seconds after Theo Hernandez had hit the crossbar for Didier Deschamps’s side and the French took just two minutes to restore parity as Benzema cut inside Azpilicueta and curled a brilliant effort into the far top corner.

Those quickfire goals changed the complexion of the game completely and a frantic final period played out. Both sides had chances but the winner came 10 minutes from time as Mbappe escaped in behind at last before clinically dispatching the winner.

The striker was ahead of the last defender when the pass was played to him, however a touch on the ball from a desperate Eric Garcia was adjudged to have started a new phase of play.

That left Luis Enrique’s side annoyed but the damage had been done and it was France left to celebrate being crowned the new Nations League winners.

Earlier in the day in Turin, Emerson Palmieri started and Jorginho came off the bench as reigning European champions Italy beat Belgium 2-1 to win the third-place play-off.

Yet it was Michy Batshuayi, on loan from Chelsea at Besiktas this term and leading the line for the Red Devils in place of the absent Romelu Lukaku, who caused many of the early problems in a bright first half for the visitors.

Lukaku had been ruled out in the build-up with what the Belgium boss called ‘muscle fatigue’ and has returned to his homeland for further treatment. In his place, Batshuayi stepped in and stepped up.

The 28-year-old fired a right-footed strike from just inside the box narrowly over inside eight minutes before teeing up Alexis Saelemaekers, who struck the frame of the goal with a curling effort.

Despite the opportunities it was goalless at the break, Italy’s best chance spurned by Federico Chiesa, but Roberto Mancini’s men didn’t take long after the restart to find the breakthrough as Nicolo Barella volleyed in a half-cleared corner to make it 1-0.

Batshuayi’s best chance of the game came after an hour as he advanced down the right under the close supervision of Emerson. Although he was able to work enough room for a shot, the on-loan Lyon full-back did well to get a block in and that proved enough to see the ball loop over Gianluigi Donnarumma and away via the crossbar.

The deficit doubled midway through the half when Chiesa was upended in the box by Leicester City full-back Timothy Castagne and up stepped Domenico Berardi to squeeze his spot-kick past the outstretched hand of Thibaut Courtois.

Jorginho was soon introduced to add control in midfield and the Azzurri managed to keep their opponents at bay until a few moments from time when young midfielder Charles de Ketelaere finished a swift counter-attack through the legs of Donnarumma.

Yet time was up for Roberto Martinez and his side as Italy held on to claim UEFA Nations League bronze in front of a home crowd.

Ton-up Thiago

It is the first points dropped by Brazil in this qualification campaign. They had won the first nine games so still lead the 10-nation-strong group by six points from Argentina in second. The top four qualify automatically for Qatar.Although Colombia are currently bottom, this was a fairly even contest with most chances coming late on when both goalkeepers were forced to make saves.Thiago Silva won the first of 100 caps back in June 2008.