France beat Croatia on penalties to reach Nations League semi-finals
France, who won the Nations League in 2021, will now take on title-holders Spain in the semi-finals in Germany on June 5, with the winners going through to the final three days later.
SAINT-DENIS - Goalkeeper Mike Maignan saved twice in the shoot-out as France beat Croatia 5-4 on penalties on Sunday after their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie had ended 2-2 on aggregate, sealing a place in the last four in June.
Les Bleus won 2-0 on the night with goals in normal time by Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele at the Stade de France to wipe out their deficit from Thursday's first leg.
With no further scoring in extra time the tie went to penalties, where Maignan saved from both Martin Baturina and Josip Stanisic, while Franjo Ivanovic also missed his kick for the visitors.
Jules Kounde and Theo Hernandez both failed to convert for the hosts, but Dayot Upamecano scored when he became the seventh France player to step up, sparking scenes of celebrations on the pitch and in the crowd of 77,502.
France, who won the Nations League in 2021, will now take on title-holders Spain in the semi-finals in Germany on June 5, with the winners going through to the final three days later. Germany will face Portugal in the other last-four tie.
Meanwhile Croatia, who lost on penalties to Spain in the final of the last edition of the Nations League in 2023, will now instead start their qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in June.
They will go into qualifying Group L with the Czech Republic, Montenegro, the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar.
France's progress to the final stages of the Nations League means they will not begin their World Cup qualifying campaign until September, when they will be in Group D with Ukraine, Iceland and Azerbaijan.
While next year's World Cup in North America is the main target, both sides were eyeing silverware in the Nations League and Croatia held the upper hand after triumphing 2-0 in the first leg in Split.
Mbappe draws blank again
Nevertheless France, whose coach Didier Deschamps will step down in 2026 after 14 years in charge, were hoping for a comeback similar to their famous recovery against Ukraine in a decisive World Cup qualifying play-off in 2013.
They won that after overturning a 2-0 first-leg loss with a 3-0 victory in the return at the Stade de France.
Here Deschamps made five changes from the game in Croatia, with Bayern Munich duo Upamecano and Olise among those coming into the starting line-up.
They pinned Croatia back almost from the off in this latest repeat of the 2018 World Cup final won by the French, but it took them until the 52nd minute to get the breakthrough.
Olise was the scorer, finding the net with a marvellous free-kick from just outside the box following a foul on Kylian Mbappe. It was his first goal in a France shirt on his sixth appearance.
With Croatia struggling to hold on, Mbappe saw his shot from Dembele's low cross flash just wide in the 75th minute before the hosts levelled the tie on aggregate 10 minutes from the end.
Mbappe found Olise and his cutback was swept in first-time by in-form Paris Saint-Germain forward Dembele.
France took the momentum with them into extra time where Mbappe twice forced saves from Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Mbappe has now failed to score in his last seven games for his country and has found the net just once in his last 10 appearances in a France shirt, from a penalty against Poland at Euro 2024.
The Real Madrid superstar did score in the shoot-out, however, converting France's first penalty with an effort that just squirmed under Livakovic.
Aurelien Tchouameni, Randal Kolo Muani and Desire Doue also scored for the hosts before Upamecano's winner. - AFP
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