Didier Deschamps reacted this Friday to the draw for the quarter-finals of the Nations League from UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Accompanied by his assistant Guy Stéphan, the coach is wary of Croatia, which the Blues will challenge in March 2025.
Well, well, how we meet again. Almost six years after the 2018 World Cup final, and a little more than two years after the previous duel in the Nations League, France will meet Croatia in the quarter-finals of the 2024-2025 edition. On March 20 and 23, Didier Deschamps' Blues will travel to Croatia and then receive Luka Modric's teammates at the Stade de France.
>> Relive the draw for the quarterfinals of the Nations League
Two great meetings in perspective and the assurance of two big duels for the French selection. Present in Nyon in Switzerland to attend the draw, the boss of the French team greeted his next opponent.
“We know each other well, even very well, we have met a lot of times. Croatia is one of the best European nations, it maintains itself at a high level through the final stages that it plays and there, the League of nations”, estimated the coach of the France team in comments transmitted by the FFF on its site. “During the last edition, we were in the same group. When we are among the eight best European teams, we know that there are only good people to face.”
“Be there for the Final Four”
Accompanied by Guy Stéphan during his trip to UEFA headquarters, Didier Deschamps also took the opportunity to take a photo with his Croatian counterpart Zlatko Dalic. But despite the superficial smiles between the two technicians, the battle has already begun in view of the double confrontation in the League of Nations. And the coach of the France team has not hidden his big ambitions.
“Our goal? To go as far as possible and be there for the Final Four in June,” Didier Deschamps added in the comments relayed by the FFF. “That will come through these two games against Croatia.”
If France had beaten the Vatreni in the final of the 2018 World Cup, the previous reunions had gone less well for the Blues. In June 2022, the French selection conceded a draw in Split (1-1) before losing a few days later at the Stade de France (0-1). A defeat which remains the last for the Blues in the Dionysian enclosure.
Jean-Guy Lebreton Journalist RMC Sport
