Kylian Mbappé was closely marked by the Portuguese defense -

Thibault Camus / AP / SIPA

At the Stade de France,

The affront of Euro 2016 has not been washed away.

Neither aggravated.

The France team was held in check by Portugal, at the Stade de France, in the shock announced at the top of Group 3 of the League of Nations.

Without Eder or Gignac, Didier Deschamps' men made a half-fig, half-grape copy against a team a little more playful than four years previously.

Everything is obviously not to be thrown away but there is work to be done before the next deadlines, starting with the trip to Croatia on Wednesday.

The first limits of the diamond

Tested for the first time against by Didier Deschamps against the Ukraine B team, the midfielder's diamond did not always give satisfaction against Portugal, especially where it is most expected, in the phases of possession .

Between the hide-and-seek games of an Antoine Griezmann more than ever on the verge of depression - let us recognize him nevertheless a beautiful half-volley in the 30th -, the chicks sent in depth by Rabiot, and a Pogba little more inspired, we can not say that the Blues shone in construction.

Observation to put in perspective: opposite, the trio Danilo, -Carvalho-Fernandes contributed to complicate the task of the French quartet.

Much better in the second half

We do not know what DD said in the locker room at half-time, but seen as the Blues started to run like thoroughbreds on the price of the Arc de Triomphe, we imagine that the debrief has been salty.

Mbappé greeted his new teammate Danilo Pereira in due form with a dribble of which he has the secret, before bumping into Rui Patricio with the very bad memory of André-Pierre Gignac (46th).

Not to mention champagne football, the axial midfielders have been found much more often and in the end Mbappé and Griezmann only missed a careless mistake of the Dias-Pepe wall to finish the job.

Behind, it holds

If the Portuguese have often had control in the middle, they rarely knew how to be dangerous in the last 30 meters.

Ronaldo appeared extinct until his big shot from the left at the end of the match (90th) and the brilliant João Felix did not do much better in front of the cage of Hugo Lloris (71st).

Very clean, the Varane-Kimpembe hinge was serene even when Portugal dominated in the first period and in the stopped phases.

Even Pavard, the most in demand on his corridor, was frankly far from drowning.

Deschamps was not lacking when he said at the beginning of the week that defense was a given.

For the attack, there is still a little work.

  • Sport

  • Portugal

  • Didier Deschamps

  • League of Nations

  • French football team