Paris (AFP)
Revenge for the "Red Devils"!
Three years after the ascendancy taken by the Blues at the 2018 World Cup, the world champions will return to Belgium in October 2021 in the semifinals of the League of Nations, according to the draw made on Thursday, which also offered an Italy-Spain shock .
Qualified for this mini-tournament ("Final 4") at the end of the Nations League group stage, France, Belgium, Italy and Spain will be decided from October 6 to 10, 2021 in Milan and Turin, with semi-finals, small final and final to determine the successor of Portugal, the first winner of this trophy in 2019.
This mini-tournament will inevitably have a special flavor for the Belgians, eliminated by the Blues in the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup (1-0, goal from Samuel Umtiti).
A match remained on the stomach of the "Red Devils", who felt they had offered more play than the French.
At the end of the meeting, the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, frustrated, had criticized the France of Didier Deschamps, guilty in his eyes of having "played nothing, played to defend with eleven players".
"On our side, there is no spirit of revenge, but on their side perhaps," Deschamps reacted hot Thursday.
"But it's always with pleasure, and these are meetings that we are used to having," added the French coach.
- "Complicated and exciting" -
In the Belgian camp, the coach of the Devils Roberto Martinez has also played down this reunion: “There will be no question of revenge for us, I do not like this term, he said. (...) will be a sporting challenge that is both complicated and exciting for Belgium. Since that time, I think that both teams have made considerable progress. "
The poster, most often played by the Blues throughout their history, will oppose the first two in the Fifa ranking: the Belgians against their dolphins.
And most of the protagonists of the 2018 match in St. Petersburg should still be there, three months after the Euro scheduled for summer 2021 (June 11-July 11): Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard on the Belgian side, Hugo Lloris, Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann on the French side.
"There will be continuity, but as always it will not prevent the incorporation of new players", replied Didier Deschamps, questioned on the opportunity that this "Final 4" could represent to launch young contenders for a place with the Blues.
- Rejuvenated selections -
In the other semi-final, two selections in full transition from one generation to the next will compete.
On the Italian side, the young Manuel Locatelli or Gianluigi Donnarumma emerge;
on the Spanish side, the hopes are called Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo or Ansu Fati.
The Italians will try to be crowned at home, starting their tournament against Spain of Luis Enrique, a selection which has been one of their toughest opponents in recent years.
Roberto Mancini knows it well: if he became Italy coach, it was to rebuild the team after the humiliation of 2017, when the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup-2018, a first since 1958. And this failure bears the mark of the "Roja", who had outclassed the Nazionale in qualifying, then beaten in play-offs by Sweden.
Previously, Italy had eliminated Spain in the round of 16 of Euro-2016 at the Stade de France (2-0).
None of the four semi-finalists made it to the previous edition of the "Final 4" and the Portuguese were eliminated last month in the group stage by France.
A financial endowment, which in 2019 amounted to between 6 and 2.5 million euros depending on the final ranking, is at stake in this competition launched in 2018 by UEFA to increase the number of matches at stake between two major tournaments.
© 2020 AFP