France took on Germany at the Allianz Arena in Munich for their first game of the Euro 2020 tournament.
The world champions fielded an elite squad, with Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema making his return to Les Bleus for the first time in six years.
Germany also came with a strong squad but were lacking in a good striker to accommodate to from their host of talented midfielders.
Die Mannschaft held most of the possession in the first half of the match but were constantly being bombarded by a pacey French counterattack.
France got their first solid chance of the game in the 17th minute as Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba rose above Antonio Rüdiger to meet the ball with his head. Despite having a clean header, the ball went over the German goal.
The visitors were seriously outperforming the hosts on the counterattack and managed to get a goal in the first 20-minutes.
Pogba sent a brilliant through ball into the box to meet Lucas Hernández, who then pinged the ball through towards Kylian Mbappe on the other side of the goal.
Unfortunately, the connection did not meet and instead deflected off of Mats Hummels, who put the ball directly into his own net.
It was indeed a humiliating start for Germany, but that didn’t stop them creating chances throughout the game. The Germans slowly came close to scoring after a couple of set pieces.
An injury scare close to half time was a concern among the French team. Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich, who was already on a yellow card, collided with Hernández. The German’s boot connected with the Frenchman’s face, as many feared a potential concussion.
However, the French fullback got back up and the first half ended 1-0 to his team.
Second Half
France seemed to have the game in their hand when they came back in the second half. Mbappe was shining on the wing and giving German players a hard time.
He almost got an assist when he fed a ball through to his former PSG team mate Rabiot, who should have squared the ball to Antoine Griezmann, but instead went for goal and ended up smacking the post.
In response, Serge Gnabry almost converted a few chances for Germany but his shots just weren’t landing.
Just after the hour-mark, Mbappe thought he got his first goal of the tournament after beating Manuel Neuer with a lovely low-cut shot. However, the linesman ruled the goal offside with a late flag.
The 22-year-old was causing a lot of trouble for the German defence and appealed for a penalty after Hummels tackled him in the 78th minute. The referee decided that the Deutsch defender got the ball first.
France thought they finally got their second goal in the 85th minute after Mbappe squared the ball to Benzema in the box. The 33-year-old slotted the chance into the net in what would’ve been his first goal since 2015.
Again, Mbappé was ruled offside after a VAR decision found that Pogba fed the ball late to him.
The match ended 1-0 in the final fixture of Match Day 1.
Source of Image: UEFA EURO 2020 via Twitter
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