After their pout against Israel on Thursday, the French team responded well at San Siro, this Sunday, with a 3-1 victory, full of combativeness, against the Italians who were executioners 3 months ago, at the Parc of Princes. It is in the attitude displayed that the Blues have reassured… An observation supported by the men of the meeting at the end of this last group stage match of the League of Nations.
“It’s been a long time since we had a match like that,” admitted double scorer of the evening Adrien Rabiot after a comforting success for the Blues against the Nazionale (3-1). In Milan, in the den of the legendary San Siro, the Blues rediscovered a spirit of solidarity and combativeness “worthy of the real French team… we wanted revenge”, even supported the Blues goalkeeper Mike Maignan, savior on numerous occasions.
Unity was the watchword this evening, after the disjointed and more than tasteless match this Thursday, in an almost empty Stade de France against Israel. Very quickly, with a flick of his helmet from a corner, Rabiot set the tone, from the 2nd minute of play. The same Rabiot who repeated in the second period (65th), once again from a corner, to score a double: “That was It's been a long time since we fought in this way all together, until the end,” said the Marseillais after the meeting, speaking to Téléfoot. Before concluding, “we also had the objective of winning with a two-goal margin and we did it. But frankly, the mutual help there was in this match, the fighting spirit, the team spirit , this should be emphasized.”
“The group is living well… this match will serve as a reference for us all”
Under pressure with the interest of finishing first in this group 2, the French team displayed a vengeful spirit after this sudden setback (3-1) against the same Italians, at the Parc des Princes, three months ago. “It was more a match for pride than for first place”, even supported Mike Maignan.
“We had revenge to take from the first leg, we wanted to show a completely different side. And in addition to our slightly less good match against Israel… we really wanted to show that this jersey is close to our hearts. group responded, it was really a complete match”, also admitted Lucas Digne, author of a sumptuous free kick (finally attributed to Vicario against his camp) in the 33rd minute which allowed his team to take a short lead. moment before being stung two minutes later late by Cambiaso.
“I feel comfortable in the group. It's a group that lives well. It's everyone's job. The new generation shows that there is a lot of quality, it's up to us to make the most of it. world upwards”, testified Lucas Digne, relieved after the meeting.
If “it was necessary to show “desire” to overcome Spalletti's men in this “reference match for the whole group”, specifies Digne, the Blues of Deschamps – deprived of Kylian Mbappé, not called up – thus showed ” to everyone, to all those who criticized (us) that the group lives well, is united, wants to move forward and is capable of great things”, concluded the Aston Villa defender, elected man of the match for its fiftieth selection.
By finishing first in its group ahead of Italy, France should therefore benefit from a double advantage for the rest of the competition: the assurance of avoiding Portugal, Spain for the quarter-finals (next March). and Germany but above all the advantage of receiving for the return match.
