France progressed to the semi-finals of the Nations League, after defeating Croatia 5-4 penalty on penalty shoot-out.
The French national team won 2-0 at the Stade de France, to level on aggregate, having lost by the same scoreline in Croatia.
Second half goals from Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele saw Les Bleus fight back to set up semi final clash with Spain.
France started the return fixture as the better side, hoping to turn around the first leg loss away from home.
The first half saw William Saliba’s header and Kylian Mbappe’s shot missed. Aurelien Tchouameni also flicked a near-post header past the right post, before Olise’s penalty shouts waved away by Michael Oliver.
The Bayern Munich attacker finally broke the deadlock for Didier Deschamps’ side in the 52nd minute. Olise sent a terrific 20-yard free-kick into the top-right corner to make it 2-1 on aggregate.
France kept pushing for the second as were lucky, as Dembele brilliantly shot home Olise’s cutback with 10 minutes of normal time remaining.
Having levelled on aggregate, Deschamps’ boys pushed the contest into extra time, and then penalty.
The one-time Nations League winner eventually became victorious from the shoot-out, winning 5-4, with goalkeeper Mike Maignan becoming the hero.
The AC Milan shot-stopper saved Martin Baturina and Josip Stanisic’s spotkick. Meanwhile, Franjo Ivanovic also missed for Croatia, as he ballooned over the ball post.
France saw themselves pegged also when Jules Kounde blasted over and Theo Hernandez fired high and wide. However, Dayot Upamecano took advantage of Stanisic’s miss, shooting high to book Les Blues last-four date with Spain.
© Copyrights Sixsports. All Rights Reserved.
