France defeated defending champions, Portugal, in the Nations League group play offs. The French men managed to grab a goal early into the second half of what seemed like a tight match. Both teams made several attempts to score, it was France’s N’golo Kante who bagged the only goal of the game at 53 minutes. France have topped the group with Portugal at second place.
The French manager was happy with his team’s performance even though only one goal separated the two sides.
“Given the quality of the opposition, it’s of course one of our best performances of recent times,”
“We deserved the win and we’ve fulfilled our objective of finishing top. I’m very proud of the players. They proved tonight that France are still a great team” said French coach Didier Deschamps.
Portugal’s coach Fernando Santos wasn’t too pleased with the outcome. “I don’t know what went wrong in the first half, it wasn’t what I expected but it was my responsibility” the coach told media. “We were better in the second half but then conceded the goal which settled the game. We had three or four chances to equalize.” He further added.