Euro 2024: Kylian Mbappé, France misfiring in Germany with defence key to quarter-final run
- Les Bleus have scored only three times in four games so far at the European Championship
Kylian Mbappé and France’s attack might be misfiring, but an outstanding defence has helped carry them to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.
Les Bleus have scored only three times in four games so far at the European Championship, once from a penalty by Mbappe and twice via opposition defenders, including Jan Vertonghen’s own goal which sealed a 1-0 win over Belgium in the last 16.
However, France kept a third clean sheet in a tournament in which they have let in a solitary goal: a penalty by Poland’s Robert Lewandowski.
“We have been really solid defensively and that is essential at this level,” coach Didier Deschamps said after the victory against Belgium in Düsseldorf, which sent France into the quarter-finals for the sixth time in the last seven major tournaments with Portugal up next. “We have come a long way in that regard.
“It is not just about defending well, because you also need to use the ball well from the back and we did that. We are doing everything we can to not concede a goal.”
France’s defensive performance in Germany is remarkable because Deschamps lost two key members of his back line after the 2022 World Cup, where they lost on penalties to Argentina in the final.
