Stade de France was the place where Les Bleus got a visit from Ukraine for the World Cup Qualifier. We got tonight’s player ratings.
As the reigning World Cup champions, France began their road to defend the title today against Ukraine at Stade de France. With a scary line-up created by Didier Deschamps, Les Bleus found some important hurdles on their opener of a new chapter. Although Antoine Griezmann scored a gorgeous long-distance curler in the first half, they struggled from then on.
Kylian Mbappe wasn’t his usual self while playing for his nation, and Paul Pogba isn’t ready to play a full match yet. N’Golo Kante also struggled against a combative Ukraine and the French press will have a field day trying to find reasons for Deschamps to call Karim Benzema for the next international break. It’s pretty evident they will need all the firepower they can get if they want to have smooth sailing.
Kimpembe spoils the party for France.
Early in the second half, Kimpembe scored an own goal that granted Ukraine their chance to salvage a valuable point at Stade de France. On paper, Les Bleus are the strongest side in the sector but they might not get far playing like this. Something seems off from the players in this new adventure, they hardly seem focused on the target.
If Didier Deschamps doesn’t find a solution quickly, they might not reach the Euros in an acceptable level of performance. Kylian Mbappe needs to perform better than he did tonight if he wants to keep enlarging his already impressive status. Up next, Ukraine plays Finland and France go against Kazakhstan.
Player ratings
France: Lloris (6), Lucas (6), Kimpembe (4), Varane (6), Pavard (6), Kante (6), Rabiot (6), Coman (6), Mbappe (6), Griezmann (7), Giroud (6).
Bench: Pogba (6), Dembele (5), Martial (5).
Ukraine: Buschan (7), Kryvstov (7), Karavaev (7), Matvienko (7), Mykolenko (7), Zavarnyi (7), Sydorchuk (7), Malinovskyi (7), Zinchenko (7), Shaparenko (6), Yaremchuk (6).
Bench: Moraes (5), Kovalenko (5), Zubkov (5).
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