France and Portugal remain locked together at the summit of Nations League Group A3 after playing out a stalemate at the Stade de France.
This was their first meeting since Lokomotiv Moscow’s Eder became Portugal’s unlikely hero in the final of Euro 2016 at the same venue. This time, a pair of all-star attacks ran into an impasse against similarly elite defences on both sides.
The hosts, Didier Deschamps’ side, enjoyed the backing of 1,000 socially-distanced fans within the cavernous arena. They were, however, unable to remodel the free-scoring fluidity that saw them demolish Ukraine 7-1 in a midweek friendly.
Portugal followed up their goalless draw against Spain with another deadlock. In the 74th minute, Pepe thought he had rescued the game with a victory for Portugal only to see the offside flag raised against him.
In the opening exchanges that did little to yield much goal-mouth action, Bayern Munich’s Lucas Hernandez rallied for a last-ditch block to deny Cristiano Ronaldo on the end of Bernardo Silva’s deft 24th-minute flick.
Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann wafted in between Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro to latch on to Paul Pogba’s floated pass and fire at Hugo Lloris, while Joao Felix incurred Ronaldo’s wrath at the other end by flinging himself at Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick to divert it away from the Juventus superstar.
Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe looked to bring the game to life early in the second half, beating Danilo Pereira with a brilliant piece of skill, but Rui Patricio, in goal for Portugal, read his intentions precisely and saved his dinked effort well.
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Then, it was the turn of Ronaldo to uncharacteristically misjudge a half-volleyed attempt from Guerreiro’s searching cross. It was also an unerring set-piece delivery from the Borussia Dortmund man that picked out a stooping Pepe, whose goal celebrations were correctly cut short for offside.
Ronaldo almost had the last say with a match-winning attempt on target in stoppage time, but French keeper Lloris got down sharply to repel Ronaldo at his near post.
The game may have not seen goal celebrations to excite fans but THEWILL holds that it was an exciting encounter with some of Europe’s finest players slugging it out for 90 minutes.
For their next match, France travel to Croatia on Wednesday, October 14, while Portugal hosts Sweden.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
