Euro 2024 power rankings: a look at the 24 teams going to Germany
This was not a vintage window for Didier Deschamps’ side with a home defeat against Germany followed up by a shaky 3-2 win against Chile in Marseille. The captain, Kylian Mbappé, had a difficult few days and the absence of Antoine Griezmann, who missed his first France games for seven years because of injury, was clearly felt. There were positives, however, with the 18year-old Warren Zaïre-Emery having a good game against Germany and Randal Kolo Muani scoring and assisting against Chile. Deschamps made nine changes for the second game with William Saliba getting a rare start in Marseille, even though the coach had said beforehand that the Arsenal player “does things he doesn’t like”. Still the team to beat. Marcus Christenson
2) England
The results in these friendlies will not matter come the start of the Euros yet England’s celebrations after Jude Bellingham’s 95th-minute equaliser against Belgium on Tuesday night showed they did not want another defeat. “We knew the rubbish we would get,” said the goalscorer. Having lost to Brazil on Saturday, there was a muchimproved performance against the Red Devils with the 18-year-old midfielder Kobbie Mainoo the standout performer. The two games, though, showed that Gareth Southgate will need Harry Kane fit in Germany to be able to threaten the best. MC
3) Germany
Crisis, what crisis? The Euro 2024 hosts, who looked in disarray only four months ago, will approach the tournament with an almighty spring in their step following victories against France (away) and the Netherlands (home). The 2-0 win in Lyon was particularly impressive, Florian Wirtz scoring a wonderful goal after seven seconds, as the winning margin could have been even bigger. Toni Kroos was back dictating things in central midfield, where Bayer Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich impressed next to the Real Madrid veteran. Julian Nagelsmann made no changes between the two games, which meant two starts for Stuttgart’s 27-yearold left-back Maximilian Mittelstädt, who was on the bench for Hertha Berlin as they were relegated last season but now looks like a certain starter for the Euros. MC
4) Spain
“A game against Brazil is never a friendly,” Dani Olmo said after the tempestuous 3-3 draw at the Bernabéu on Tuesday night, a game that had it all: great goals, feisty challenges and calamitous mistakes. Tempers threatened to boil over after Brazil’s late equaliser and subsequent celebrations and the Spain coach, Luis de la Fuente, was dismayed that a section of the crowd had booed the Atlético Madrid striker Álvaro Morata. Spain were superb in the first half and would likely have run away with the game but for an Unai Simón mistake after 40 minutes with Spain 2-0 up. The 16-year-old Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal wasoutstanding on the right wing and looks set to be one of the most exciting players at this summer’s Euros. The fireworks at the Bernabéu made up for the disappointing performance in the 1-0 defeat against Colombia in London on Friday and, as De la Fuente said: “We learn more from defeats than from victories.” MC
5) Portugal
And so, in the 12th game of Roberto Martínez’s Portugal reign came the first defeat. After an immaculate qualifying campaign, with 10 wins in 10 games and a goal difference of +34, as well as an impressive 5-2 win against Sweden on Thursday, Portugal slumped to a 2-0 defeat in Slovenia after a lacklustre performance. It should act as a wake-up call but no need to press any panic buttons yet. The game did, however, provide more evidence, if needed, of the importance of Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, both of whom did not play in Ljubljana. “The objective of these fixtures was not to win,” said Martínez before adding “although we never like to lose”. The Spaniard called