Credit - Nathan Hughes Hamilton, Flickr
Les Bleus are in the ‘group of death’ after being drawn against the likes of Germany, Portugal, and Hungary and started their tournament against a strong German side in Munich.
The World Cup champions came out the blocks fast however and knocked the ball around with their usual fizz and finesse with Paul Pogba dictating the play as he typically does for the national side.
Pogba seemed to be the man that was going to hold the key if France were to win their opening game with the German players struggling to get anywhere near the Manchester United midfielder.
Pogba made it seem effortless as he dominated on both ends of the ball, coming away from the game with 82% pass accuracy, three successful take ons, 12 ball recoveries, and three interceptions.
It was a man-of-the-match performance from the former Juventus star which helped France to a win when Lucas Hernandez got down the left, put a cross in and Germany defender Mats Hummels could only put the ball past Manuel Neuer into his own goal.
The game would have been put to bed with five minutes to go if Kylian Mbappe could have kept himself onside before playing the ball into Karim Benzema who tucked the ball into the back of the net before eventually seeing the flag go up.
The 1-0 win over one of the tougher opponents in their group can only help to give confidence throughout the team as France are one of the favourites to go all the way.
This performance against the Germans showed just why they are the tournament favourites as they didn’t allow the hosts to really produce anything, even on home soil.
France showed in this first game that they are happy to dictate the play and that should stand them in good stead for the rest of the tournament where they will expect to make the final as a minimum.
Didier Deschamps will take confidence from what he saw from his side and will be hoping they can find the net on a few more occasions when they take on the ‘minnows’ of the group, Hungary, on Saturday.
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