France and Portugal do not give each other an inch in group a3 of the Nations League. The reigning world champion triumphed 1-2 over Croatia on Wednesday evening, a repeat of the 2018 World Cup final, while at the same time Portugal had less trouble with Sweden: 3-0. France and Portugal have ten points after four games and are preparing for next month’s meeting on Portuguese soil. Sweden then hopes to take at least the first point in the Nations League at the expense of Croatia.

Croatia – France 1-2
The match in Zagreb, led by Björn Kuipers, got off to a grim start, with Lucas Digne and Nikola Vlasic yellow cards in the first seven minutes. A minute later, France took the lead: after a good action by Benjamin Mendy on the right, the ball ended up at the feet of Antoine Griezmann, who shot the ball hard into the left crossroads. The team of Didier Deschamps could actually have thrown the meeting in the Maksimir Stadium in the slot before the interruption, but Kylian Mbappé and Clément Lenglet failed to take advantage of great opportunities. Croatia grew more in the game as the first half progressed and still had a big chance at 1-1: Mario Pasalic first ran into Lenglet and then Hugo Lloris had a good save on the Croatian’s bet from close range.

Croatia made an eager impression in the opening phase of the second half. In the phase when the game went up and down, Zlatko Dalic’s team struck. Adrien Rabiot was far too easy on the right, after which Josip Brekalo delivered the ball to Vlasic. He placed the ball in the left corner behind Lloris, who was nailed to the ground: 1-1. France secured the three points eleven minutes before the end. Digne worked a long ball from the back in one go from the left towards the penalty spot, where Mbappé also immediately slid behind Dominik Livakovic: 1-2.

Portugal – Sweden 3-0
Fernando Santos’ team already laid the foundation for the victory in the first half. Portugal, which took office without corona patient Cristiano Ronaldo, presented the most danger in the first 45 minutes and every attack looked actually dangerous. Although Sweden made a good impression in the opening phase, they barely got close to Rui Patricio’s goal. After twenty minutes of play, Bernardo Silva signed a pass from Diogo Jota for the opening goal and just before half time, the latter signed for the 2-0 after a wonderful cross pass from Joao Cancelo. In between, Portugal got away well when a bet by Marcus Berg hit the aluminum.

After the break, Sweden went in search of a connection goal with all the might. It was thanks to Rui Patricio that Berg could not quickly take care of the 2-1 with the head and then he tapped a bet from Viktor Claesson with the help of the post from the left corner. Portugal ended the game eighteen minutes before the end. After a pass from Willian Carvalho, Jota started a rush from the left and finished nicely: 3-0. The visit did not go unnoticed in the remainder of the game, but because Rui Patricio reacted well to a header from Alexander Isak, it remained 3-0.