Cesare Prandelli insists Italy “didn’t deserve to lose” against France, but saw it as a valuable experiment.

Cesare Prandelli insists Italy “didn’t deserve to lose” against France, but saw it as a valuable experiment.

The Coach used a 4-3-3 system with Stephan El Shaarawy, Mario Balotelli and Antonio Candreva in their 2-1 defeat, while Marco Verratti got his first senior start and Alessandro Florenzi his debut.

“We didn’t deserve to lose this, but it was right to experiment and we will experiment again. We need to be ready for the tournament and that means using these games to test things out.

“We did some good things, it was the first time we were trying the 4-3-3, so some movements were not going to be solid.”

El Shaarawy had opened the scoring, while Balotelli and Emanuele Giaccherini hit the crossbar.

“The strikers did well and have different characteristics. El Shaarawy is very generous and I saw a good Italy side.

“If I had a few more friendlies and training sessions then we could see Andrea Pirlo and Verratti together, but for the moment we have to focus on qualifying.

“It has been a great year. We didn’t deserve to lose, played well and repaid the fans for their passionate welcome. We have to go forward with this enthusiasm.”

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