Stade de France in Saint-Denis is the place where Les Bleus received a visit from Sweden in the Nations League’s player ratings.
Saint-Denis was perfect for France to get their final four ticket against Sweden after last-week’s victory against Portugal. If we are being honest, the big game already happened and France only had to win tonight in order to qualify. They started the match with great news for the legendary Lilliam Thuram, whose son assisted Olivier Giroud in the first goal of the evening.
Marcus played a wide position that worked great for him due to his speed as he set Giroud up for a first-touch finish. This initial goal was a response to Sweden’s opener through Claesson. After the equalizer, it was all France from that moment forward. Benjamin Pavard scored a goal that was very reminiscent of his famous World Cup volley against Argentina. Only this one was lower. The game went to half-time with a 2-1 victory for France but we still had a long road ahead of us.
Mbappe returns to activity with an assist.
During the second half, Kylian Mbappe finally came back from an injury to play the last 30 minutes of the match against Sweden. It took him only one minute to make an impact. The PSG forward set Giroud up for his brace with a beautiful cross from the left side of the pitch. A goal that gets the striker a little closer to Thierry Henry’s all-time record.
Sweden responded to this goal with their second through Quaison, but they soon realized they wouldn’t be able to come back from this result. At the very end of the match, a poorly executed corner-kick left Kingsley Coman alone with no Sweden goalie to stop him. The Bayern Munich forward scored the fourth and final goal of the night for France. This result leaves Portugal out of the tournament and France becomes part of the final four.
Player ratings
France: Lloris (8), Varane (8), Kimpembe (7), Hernandez (7), Pavard (8), Sissoko (7), Pogba (8), Rabiot (7), Thuram (8), Giroud (9), Griezmann (7).
Bench: Zouma (7), Digne (7), Mbappe (7), Nzonzi (6), Coman (6).
Sweden: Olsen (6), Bengtsson (5), Lustig (5), Danielsson (5), Lindelof (6), Larsson (6), Claesson (7), Olsson (6), Kulusevski (6), Berg (5), Forsberg (6).
Bench: Quaison (6), Krafth (5), Helander (5), Isak (6), Kajuste (6).
Feel free to make your pick on player’s ratings and performances using the widget below.
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