Croatia bruise Les Bleus

Ivan Perisic scored one goal and created another as Croatia beat France 2-0 on Thursday to seize the upper hand in the first leg of their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie.

Perisic crossed for Ante Budimir to head in the opener at the Stadion Poljud in Split after the home side had squandered an early penalty. With France out of sorts, Perisic made it 2-0 before the break as Croatia saw out the victory. 

It was not a good night for France despite captain Kylian Mbappe making his international comeback having not featured in either of the last two international windows, in October and November.

Croatia’s Ivan Perisic (left) celebrates his team’s opening goal

Mbappe did have chances, notably seeing a deflected second-half shot from Ousmane Dembele’s cutback kept out by a fine Dominik Livakovic save. 

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The Real Madrid superstar has now failed to find the net in his last six appearances for his country, since scoring a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Poland at Euro 2024. Nevertheless, Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps was happy with Mbappe’s effervescence on the day.

“He looked in good form, even if not everything came off for him. He is clearly back to full fitness. He was at a very good level tonight,” Deschamps told broadcaster TF1.

France will now have to find a way of overturning the deficit at the Stade de France on Sunday, otherwise Croatia will be heading to the final four of the Nations League.

France coach Didier Deschamps

“Croatia are obviously in a better situation [heading into the second leg]. Our first-half showing was below what we are capable of. It will be a different game [in the second leg]. We will do everything to turn it around,” added an upbeat Deschamps. 

Other key results

>> Italy 1-2 Germany
>> The Netherlands 2-2 Spain
>> Denmark 1-0 Portugal
>> Ukraine 3-1 Belgium 

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