Soccer
Didier Deschamps conceded France were second best in the first leg of their Nations League quarter-final clash with Croatia, but is confident of overturning their two-goal deficit.
France were beaten 2-0 by Zlatko Dalic’s side on Thursday, with two first-half goals from Ante Budimir and Ivan Perisic doing the damage ahead of the return leg this Sunday.
Indeed, Budmir’s opener was the fourth headed goal that France have conceded in their last three international games, as many as they had let in their previous 53 matches.
Perisic also became the first player since England’s Wayne Rooney back in November 2015 to register a goal and an assist against France.
France struggled to threaten their opponents in the first half, with Dominik Livakovic making comfortable saves from Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe.
Deschamps’ team improved after the break but were unable to make their pressure tell, falling to back-to-back defeats against Croatia for the very first time.
“We made a good start, but there were losses of balls, technical errors. We gave opportunities to the opponent,” Deschamps told TF1 after the match.
“The second half was much better. Maignan saved the penalty. After that, it went on. We lost the ball. We did what we had to do in the second half without finding the efficiency.”
The result also saw Croatia extend their unbeaten run against France to three matches, surpassing the two-match streak they managed between June 2004 and March 2011 (D2).
France welcome Croatia to the Stade de France in three days’ time, and Deschamps is hoping to see attacking improvements when they meet again on Sunday.
“We lost the first set, we’re going to make sure we win the second at home. Our first half was below what we were capable of doing,” Deschamps added.
“We will do everything to turn the situation around. Everything we could give them in the first half, we were punished. There was far too much waste on the technical level.”
Deschamps also discussed Mbappe’s display at the Stadion Poljud, with the Real Madrid star making his first appearance for his nation since a 3-1 defeat to Italy last September.
Mbappe ended the contest with team-high totals for shots on target (four), touches in the opposition box (10) and chances created (four).
“I found him very fit. He didn’t succeed in everything,” Deschamps said.
“He was very available, made a lot of effort against a low block. He could always do better but was very available.”
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