2023-06-19 21:02:00
The contract is fulfilled for Kylian Mbappé and his gang: the Tricolores go on vacation with a clear round, no goals conceded in four matches this year and a large lead at the top of their qualifying group, six points ahead of their evening opponents and nine points ahead of Ireland and the Netherlands.
The Blues, in numerical superiority at the end of the match following the exclusion of Konstaninos Mavropanos (69th), won on a penalty from their captain Mbappé (55th), already a scorer in this exercise on Friday once morest Gibraltar in Faro (3-0) .
With 40 goals in selection, the Parisian star is now on the heels of Michel Platini (41 goals) in the glorious ranking of scorers in the history of the France team. Only 24 years old…
Over the course of a controlled but choppy evening, the French took a few blows, suffered a few shirt pulling incidents and some even ended up bleeding (Antoine Griezmann).
But this bitter battle was finally won by the France team, in what sometimes looked like a tribute to the Top 14 rugby final, played on Saturday evening in the same stadium.
Intensity
To respond to the physical impact of Greece, Didier Deschamps had lined up a strong team, with the return of several executives from recent months such as Mike Maignan, Dayot Upamecano and Jules Koundé, exempt from the first match once morest Gibraltar.
But his most striking choice was to launch Randal Kolo Muani in attack, instead of Friday’s striker Olivier Giroud.
More restless and faster than his elder, the Frankfurt player nevertheless had a complicated evening in the middle of the dense Greek defense, even if he ended up causing the red card of Mavropanos.
Unsurprisingly, the Blues were therefore above all threatening on the wings. That of Kingsley Coman, renewed on the right following his good performance on Friday, and that of Mbappé, much more in his legs on his left side following a non-match on the Faro side.
Greece, the 52nd nation in the world which dreams of participating in its first international tournament since 2014, responded with unfailing solidarity and a good dose of aggressiveness, a characteristic spotted in recent days by Deschamps.
Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz seemed to appreciate the intensity put on by Gustavo Poyet’s men, because he never flinched when Mbappé collapsed in the box several times (2nd, 27th, 41), jostled or hooked by the opposing defense.
The Calvary of Mavropanos
The hands claimed by the Blues (7th, 41st) were not whistled either, and it was not the broca of the 80,000 spectators at the Stade de France that was going to change anything.
It finally took Antoine Griezmann to take Mavropanos’ crampons in the face at full speed (49th) for the referee to bring the whistle to his lips and award a penalty to the Tricolors… Without however excluding the at fault, despite the bloody face of the Atlético Madrid player, who was quickly treated.
And since nothing was easy, Monday evening in Saint-Denis, Mbappé needed two tries to convert his penalty: on the first, stopped by Odisseas Vlachodimos, Mavropanos, once more, had entered the area too early …
It was definitely not the evening of the defender of Stuttgart, excluded a few minutes later for having mowed down Kolo Muani who was spinning alone in goal.
At the end of this extended season, with a World Cup housed in the heart of autumn and more than 60 matches on the counter of several internationals, history will also remember that this final meeting will have stretched for 104 minutes, with 14 minutes added time in the second half. Before a deserved rest.
1687235334
#Euro #qualifiers #Blues #continue #faultless #season
