Euro 2024: Kylian Mbappe watches as France and the Netherlands are at a standstill

Euro 2024: After sharing the spoils, both teams are tied for first place in Group D with four points, one more than Austria, who defeated Poland 3-1 earlier on Friday.

Euro 2024: In Leipzig, a goalless draw that did not ignite in Kylian Mbappe’s absence saw France and the Netherlands advance to the round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship.

Only four days prior, in France’s opening 1-0 victory over Austria, the captain of the national team broke his nose. He spent the entire match on the substitute bench.

For the Netherlands, Xavi Simons’ goal was controversially disallowed, and for France, Antoine Griezmann squandered two excellent opportunities.

After sharing the spoils, both teams are tied for first place in Group D with four points, one more than Austria, who defeated Poland 3-1 earlier on Friday.

The last games of the section are scheduled for Tuesday. France will play the Poles, while the Netherlands will play Austria.

In their two meetings during the qualifying round, Les Bleus had prevailed, although Mbappe was responsible for four of France’s six goals in those contests.

Ronald Koeman, the manager of the Netherlands, commented on not having to play the Real Madrid attacker, saying, “We are talking about one of the best players in the world, so course that is different for both teams.”

France’s coach Didier Deschamps made a suggestion that, although his team was practically guaranteed to advance to the next round, he would have chosen differently to bench Mbappe in a knockout match.

“With each day he’s getting better and if it had been a decisive game this evening, I would have thought twice about him playing or not,” Deschamps added.

We’re approaching a turning moment that will benefit him. I believed that keeping him on the bench was the better course of action following what transpired.

Encircled by an orange wall encompassing two thirds of Leipzig Stadium, the Dutch were ready to seize any moment of French hesitancy and did so almost immediately.

Jeremie Frimpong’s quick pace sent him clear on goal, but Mike Maignan turned his shot behind because the Bayer Leverkusen forward was unable to finish cleanly.

Griezmann was inefficient.

Griezmann was the source of motivation for the 2022 World Cup finalists, who were missing their captain and lucky charm.

Bart Verbruggen felt the substitute skipper sting his palms from a distance.

The best opportunity for the Atletico Madrid attacker to take the lead before halftime was lost, though.

Adrien Rabiot executed a brilliant move, but Griezmann’s weaker right foot did not connect when he chose to pass rather than shoot.

After the half, Griezmann made yet another costly error when Verbruggen turned his feeble attempt with the goal gaping.

However, the main talking point of the tournament’s opening goalless tie was that the Dutch were not the winners.

After Maignan stopped Memphis Depay with eighteen minutes remaining, Simons, a midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain, scored on the rebound.

The goal was disallowed for offside by the on-field referees because Denzel Dumfries was deemed to have interfered with Maignan’s ability to block the shot.

France was granted a reprieve after a protracted VAR assessment, which has been a pleasant rarity at the tournament thus far. The offside was confirmed.

Although I believe Dumfries is in an offside position, he isn’t bothering the goalie. In my view, that is a legitimate objective when it occurs,” Koeman continued.

“Do you also require five minutes to examine it? This is beyond my comprehension.

Deschamps threw on Olivier Giroud and Kingsley Coman in quest of a winner, turning down the opportunity to risk Mbappe for the last moments.

However, because of the safety net that allows the four best third-place finishers to advance, both teams had to settle for a point that is probably already enough to guarantee their spot in the knockout stages.