Special Envoy in Milan
To discover
Nations League: schedule and results
Suspense, emotions, a rediscovered team spirit and individualities at their zenith… UEFA can thank the French team, victorious in their Premier League of Nations on Sunday evening against Spain (1-2) and magnificent ambassador of a competition that the general public hardly knows. Arrived on tiptoe in Italy after their gloomy summer and a tasteless comeback, the world champions leave with a rounded torso and with the taste of victory in the mouth. Like the good old times. All is not perfect but the self-sacrifice and the sense of sacrifice which made the strength of Didier Deschamps' group endure more than ever and suggest a 2022 World Cup where the Blues will have their say.
A football caricature to begin with…
Nothing foreshadowed such a scenario after a first act where the two nations delivered a caricature of what the public could fear. With the Spanish masters in possession of the ball (64% against 36%), magnificent in the art of pressing like the new nugget Gavi, 17 years and 2 months, who sometimes gave the impression of playing for his 100th international match on Sunday evening, against the French unable to get out of the clutches of the Iberian neighbor. Not for lack of having said it before the final, Didier Deschamps was getting used to the idea of being deprived of possession, without giving it up. Bet failed during a tasteless period and the guards reduced to technical unemployment.In the end, a very sad and dull spectacle in a final that was slow to begin.
Before a final that turns into madness after a jewel of Benzema
In view of the forces present on the lawn of the mythical and sumptuous San Siro, it was unthinkable that this final would remain as it was. It was not the case. Better still, it fell into a soft madness to the delight of the 40,000 spectators present in Milan on Sunday evening. If Luis Enrique's men were logically rewarded for their domination by the opening of the score of Oyarzabal (1-0, 64th), the result was gigantic for the Blues close to KO but still standing. One of the big lessons of this international week. Touched, never sunk. And in such a situation, great teams always rely on their great players. Moment chosen by Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé to set fire in an Iberian defense in agony. Barely sixty seconds after the Spanish goal,the Madrilenian offered a masterful goal of a curled left in the top corner of Simon (1-1, 65th). Grand and fabulous. For champions totally reinvigorated and more alive than ever.
Lloris masterful, heroic Blues
Never left out when it comes to shining and already fabulous in the semifinals against the Belgians (a goal, an assist), the Parisian also put himself at the level of the meeting by doubling the bet on a goal marred by 'an offside (1-2, 80th) but validated by the VAR ... With a new scenario close to the irrational, this final definitely shifted into another dimension. Suffocating, panting and above all indecisive until her last moments. Without a Hugo Lloris of the great evenings, author of two magnificent parades (88th, 90 + 4) at the very end of the match, the Blues would undoubtedly have trembled even more to afford their first League of Nations and succeed Portugal. As against the Belgians three days earlier,Deschamps' men joined forces one by one - including a stratospheric Paul Pogba - to repel the final Spanish assaults before all together exulting at the final whistle. In Italy, cradle of the renaissance, the French team arrived convalescent and still marked by its rotten summer, it leaves conquering and pumped up. The magic of football.
