France won its first European Championship match against Germany on Tuesday. Les Bleus In a fairly even fight, an own goal from Mats Hummels was sufficient: 1-0. France thought to close the game twice, but were just as often called back for offside. The other match in the group of death was won by Portugal (0-3) earlier in the evening.
Kylian Mbappe created the first danger in the opening phase. The French attacker didn’t send his hard shot into the corner enough to surprise Manuel Neuer. After twenty minutes, the initiative of the French led to the opening goal. Paul Pogba sent a brilliant pass with the outside of the foot to the left wing, whether intended or not. There, Lucas Hernández, who had passed through, put it there, after which Mats Hummels unfortunately ran the ball into his own goal: 1-0.
Both teams kept each other fairly balanced in the second phase of the first half and were unable to create a hundred percent chances. On behalf of the Germans, Toni Kroos fired a free kick into the wall and then over. The best opportunity was for Ilkay Gundogan, who received the ball in the penalty area after Serge Gnabry’s acrobatic tapping. Gündogan gave the ball just not the right direction under pressure and aimed wide.
Seven minutes after the break, Adrien Rabiot broke through on the left wing, after which the France midfielder hit the post in the short corner. On the other side, Gnabry shot just wide from a good cross by Robin Gosens. Toni Kroos then thought to score from the edge of the penalty area, but saw his attempt blocked by teammate Gosens. It was there after having won a header against Benjamin Pavard.
Mbappe thought he had finished the game in a sublime way by coming in from the left and hitting the far corner, but was rightly called back for offside. Later in the game, Mbappé showed his impressive sprint speed by finishing Hummels out, but the German defender managed to get himself out of trouble with a good tackle. In the 85th minute, another French goal was disallowed, this time from Benzema, because Mbappé was offside again. Germany tried to push on, but there were no chances.
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