The gestures were sporty. We witnessed a long exchange between Kevin De Bruyne and Kylian Mbappé after the match. Far from the bickering of 2018. Same observation during the interviews. The French also highlighted the tactical work of the Belgians.
“Being qualified makes me very happy because the Belgians played very well, launched Antoine Griezmann. I liked them a lot. They worked together defensively and offensively so it was complicated for us. They almost impressed me with the effort they put in. But we were solid to come out on top in this really complicated match for us.”
France-Belgium seen by our experts: “Hats off to Domenico Tedesco, the choices were good”
Adrien Rabiot made a similar observation: “We had to play a solid match. Every single one of us. I take the example, among others, of Jules Koundé who had a tough duel against Jérémy Doku.” The Barça full-back was also voted man of the match by UEFA and was happy with his performance. “We really bothered the Belgian team during the construction phase.”
France – Belgium: Carrasco on the right, Openda-Lukaku in front, explanations of Tedesco’s plan
Like his coach, Koundé imagined a more offensive Belgium given the composition. “Domenico Tedesco’s selection was cautious as they had attacking players in deeper positions. Carrasco, for example, played man-on-man against Theo (Hernandez). But we did not fall into the trap of leaving them spaces.”
The French have not, moreover “never panicked”says Randal Kolo Muani. The Blues dominated the match but came close to punishment at times. It was more defensively that they were afraid than in front of goal. “I’ve heard people say it’s only a 1-0 win, as if you’re always supposed to score four, laughs Antoine Griezmann. But we knew that this goal was going to go in and that we were going to make the difference.”
Dider Deschamps was able to pull a rabbit out of his hat to make the difference against the Belgians: Randal Kolo Muani. The unfortunate player in the 2022 World Cup final who saw Emiliano Martinez stop his attempt at the end of the match delivered his team… with a bit of luck. “I wanted to hit and it went in thanks to a deflection (Editor’s note: from Vertonghen)“he smiled. And his coach added: “Kolo, it’s Kolo (smile). It’s great to see him come up, score and give us a place in the quarter-finals. We mustn’t trivialise this result.”
Euro 2024: French cynicism eliminates Belgium again (1-0)
