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Vienna: Substitute Kylian Mbappe saved the world champion and defending champion France from a second defeat in three matches he has played so far in the first group matches of the first level of the European Nations League, by snatching a 1-1 draw once morest Austria in Vienna on Friday.
After an opening defeat in its stronghold, “Stadium de France” once morest Denmark 1-2 following it was the first to score, France was satisfied with a 1-1 draw with Croatia, its runner-up in the 2018 World Cup, and then seemed to be on its way Friday to repeat the scenario of its recent visit to the “Ernst Abel” stadium. When I lost 1-3 in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
But Mbappe, who missed the Croatia match due to an injury he suffered once morest Croatia, spared coach Didier Deschamps’ team a second defeat by snatching a equalizer in the 83rd minute of the match following entering the second half.
Deschamps said in a statement to “TF1”, “The main unfortunate thing is that we did not manage to score that second goal. We fell behind and managed to come back for sure. We were in control but ineffective. Sometimes we can score with a few chances.” (But this time), we had a lot of chances but we always found some leg (defender), goalkeeper, crossbar… It’s a shame that the players are not rewarded for all the good work they have done.”
“I wouldn’t worry even if it wasn’t the results we wanted, but I have to deal with injuries and fatigue as well. This also applies to other teams even if we are more affected. Obviously we’re not at the top of our game but that gives us more playing time,” he assured. For young people who don’t have much experience…”.
France raised its score to two points, but became at the bottom of the group following Croatia beat its host Denmark with a goal scored by Mario Pasalic in the 69th minute following a corner kick. German Ralph Rangnick.
This international window concludes with a fourth round on Monday, where France will face Croatia in the “Stadium de France”, and Austria will meet with Denmark in Copenhagen, following beating its opponent 2-1 in Vienna during the last round.
Benzema’s comeback
France played the match with a different squad than the one that drew with Croatia in the last round, as Deschamps gave Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate the opportunity to start playing six days following he was called up for the first time in order to compensate for the absence of Raphael Varane, while William Saliba played a key beside him for the second match in a row in His fifth call-up to the national team.
Midfielder Arilian Chuamini, who is likely to move from Monaco to Real Madrid, kept his key place for the third match in a row, while Karim Benzema returned to the attack to play once morest Antoine Griezmann following Deschamps kept them on the bench once morest Croatia, while Kylian Mbappe remained outside the starting lineup.
The world champions were close to opening the scoring with a double chance following a free kick by Griezmann, which was blocked by goalkeeper Patrick Bentes, who came back and stood in the face of Benzema’s vertical follow-up (18).
But that was the only chance for the guests before the Austrians responded with a beautiful three-way game between Marko Arnautovic, Konrad Laimer and Andreas Weimann, who finished it in the net once morest the captain, who returned to the squad Hugo Lloris (37).
Good post for Mbappe
France almost entered the two-half break, at the same distance from its host, had it not been for the brilliance of goalkeeper Bentes in a spiral shot for Benzema (43), then he repeated the same thing at the beginning of the second half when he blocked an attempt by Benjamin Bavar (55), followed by Kingsley Coman with a shot over the crossbar, although he was In a suitable place for recording (56).
Deschamps resorted to Mbappe in the 65th minute in search of offensive solutions at the expense of Griezmann, at a time when Rangnick was forced to remove the back of Real Madrid, the champion of the Champions League, David Alaba due to injury (69).
Despite complete control, which reached the limits of eighty percent, France seemed unable to reach its host’s net until the 83rd minute, when Mbappe managed to snatch the equalizer following a pass from Konate.
