France face Belgium hoping to banish memories of Euro flop
MILAN: France will take to the field for Thursday’s Nations League semi-final against Belgium in Turin with something to prove following their shock early exit from Euro 2020.
World champions France were among the favourites to win the summer’s European Championship but failed to set the tournament alight despite having a squad packed with world-class talent.
Their elimination on penalties at the hands of Switzerland in the last 16 -- ater leading 3-1 with 15 minutes of normal time remaining -- was a particular shock, and led to some fallout within the French camp.
On Tuesday sports daily L’equipe published a lengthy interview with star forward Kylian Mbappe, whose missed spot-kick handed the Swiss a memorable win in one of the matches of the tournament. He said he would have liked
“more support” following his shoot-out error.
“What shocked me, once again, was being called a monkey for a penalty,” Mbappe said.
“That’s why I wanted support, not because I shot the penalty to the let and (Yann) Sommer saved it.”
Mbappe also said that he could have had more support from his teammates on the field right ater missing the penalty, but on Tuesday vice-captain Raphael Varane insisted the squad supports one another.
“We are together when things are going well as well as when things are not going so well,” Manchester United defender Varane told reporters.
“We take on things together, we don’t leave anyone behind. That’s our philosophy, and that’s not going to change.”
France go into the match on an unconvincing run of form, with the 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Finland last month their first victory ater a run of five draws.
They will be missing midfield dynamo N’golo Kante ater he contracted Covid-19 in the run up to Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat at Juventus last week.
“We shouldn’t play down this competition, it’s replaced friendly fixtures which weren’t very popular,” said France coach Didier Deschamps.
“We know we’re here with an aim and unlike other competitions we’re already in the semi-finals.”