Two victories in two preparation matches for the France team before starting the Euro. After dominating Wales (3-0), the Blues did it again by winning 3-0 again against Bulgaria, Tuesday, June 8, at the Stade de France. Didier Deschamps’ players won thanks to a double from Olivier Giroud and a goal from Antoine Griezmann.
The only downside of the evening remains the injury outing of Karim Benzema at the end of the first period. But Didier Deschamps wanted to be reassuring one week before the first match of the Euro against Germany: ” It’s a crutch, he took a hit, on the muscle above the knee, so he stopped. The muscle was hardening, so we didn’t take any chances. “
In front of 5,000 spectators – the Federation having obtained an exemption despite the curfew at 9 pm – the Blues clearly dominated the meeting. In 4-4-2 called “diamond”, with the return of N’Golo Kanté in the middle and a trio of attacking Mbappé – Griezmann – Benzema, the start of the match was one-sided for the France team. During the first half hour, the Blues chained the opportunities stumbling regularly on the Bulgarian goalkeeper Naumov. The opening came from Antoine Griezmann who scored the first goal with an acrobatic strike, countered by a defender, before finishing in the back of the net (23e).
The “Phoenix” Olivier Giroud
Back from the locker room, the French pressing remains very high, suffocating the Bulgarians who have hardly had the opportunity to make Hugo Lloris shine. The French goalkeeper had a quieter game than against Wales last week. But over the minutes the pace began to drop, and Didier Deschamps took the opportunity to rotate his workforce. This is when the “Phoenix” Olivier Giroud, as he calls himself, showed the French coach that he could always count on him by scoring a brace in less than ten minutes (83e, 90e). “Whatever the circumstances, we never let go, when we call on me, we do the job”, he congratulated himself at the end of the match. With his two new goals, the Chelsea player has scored his 45e and 46e goals for the French team, getting a little closer to Thierry Henry’s record of 51 goals.
One week before his first meeting of the Euro, on June 15 against Germany, the two friendly matches were therefore encouraging and reassuring for Didier Deschamps: the trio Benzema – Griezmann – Mbappé manages to combine and find each other easily and the midfielder, thanks in particular to a very good Pogba over the two games, is still as dominant.
“There were a lot of very good things, rejoiced Mr. Deschamps at the end of the match. Now it’s the competition and it’s only this truth that matters. But beyond the quality, there is intelligence, complementarity. We have to rehearse, we will not have any more rehearsals since on the 15th, we will be in the thick of the matter. “