He came, saw, scored and turned the game around. Substitute Andreas Cornelius gave Denmark an ideal debut in the Nations League with his brace in the 2-1 win over France on Friday evening at the Stade de France. The world champion, on the other hand, showed some weaknesses in the absence of head coach Didier Deschamps. The Danes and Austria (following 3-0 in Croatia) lead Group A1 on three points and meet in Vienna on Monday.
The “Bleus” were the dominant team for long stretches in Saint-Denis and consequently took the lead (51st) thanks to newly crowned Champions League winner Karim Benzema. However, the French were vulnerable in switching and counter-attacking. Cornelius, who came on for Kasper Dolberg following an hour, took advantage of this twice ice-coldly (68′, 88′). The striker from the Turkish champions Trabzonspor became the match winner with two notable goals and was celebrated accordingly followingwards.
“Fantastic! We beat the best team in the world in front of 80,000 spectators,” said Cornelius on Danish broadcaster TV2. “We have a strong side. We have a lot of players who can come off the bench and maintain the level. We’re a small country but we can play with the best,” added the 29-year-old.
Cornelius received a lot of praise from his coach Kasper Hjulmand. “It’s great to know that Andreas gives his all in every match. At the moment he’s at the top of his game.” Hjulmand appreciated the success of the world champion, who had previously won seven times in a row. “France are probably the best team in the world when it comes to the quality of the players. We’re very proud of the performance we showed away to a full stadium once morest them.”
The “Equipe Tricolore”, on the other hand, suffered from headaches. Not only the game, but also star striker Kylian Mbappe was lost at the break with a knee injury. “There were some not so good passages, but also good passages. There are areas that we can work on in training,” said France’s reserve coach Guy Stephan, who deputized on the sidelines for Deschamps following his father’s death.
France and Denmark will also meet at the World Cup in Qatar on November 26th. “We dream big, and winning here gives us confidence that we can do something big,” said Hjulmand. The next task for his team awaits on Monday evening in Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium: At 8.45 p.m. (live ORF 1) it is once morest Austria for the lead in the table, while France travels to Croatia for the repeat of the World Cup final. However, two teams will then meet in Split, which had to lose a lot of feathers on Friday.
Licking wounds was also the order of the day for Belgium, second in the world rankings. The 4-1 thrashing of the Netherlands was the first home defeat for Belgium since Roberto Martinez’s first game as head coach once morest Spain in September 2016. The clear rebuff was “exactly what the team needed” when looking at the World Cup, stressed Martinez. “It’s a tough result, but it’s clear what we have to work on.”
The coach lamented striker Romelu Lukaku’s early injury. “It was a blow for the team. It became a more difficult match from there,” he said. However, defender Jan Vertonghen also admitted that the Dutch attack has always posed problems for Belgium: “In particular, we struggled to control their strikers. This defeat brings us back to earth. It’s clear that we have to keep working hard. “
