The scene looks like those late nights, when you have to empty the glasses turned into ashtrays and ask the last guests to please take off. In the middle of silver confetti strewn on the lawn of the Milanese stadium of San Siro, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé pose all smiles, with their trophy. Behind them, the staff is busy tidying up the platform where the Blues raised, a few minutes earlier, the League of Nations. The party is already over, and a plane awaits the evening winners.
In Milan, the French team won a new title, and let the Spaniards join the locker room without tears or effusions after their defeat (1-2), Sunday, October 10. UEFA’s latest creation is still too green from the height of its second edition to plunge its hapless finalist into eternal regret. But his youth does not forbid happiness. The French coach, Didier Deschamps, even had communicative and tactile joy with his assistants, when Paul Pogba was in charge of the animation with the supporters, and Antoine Griezmann did not let go of his little tricolor.
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Regardless of the bottle, there was a bit of drunkenness during this short Italian campaign. In the space of three days, the 2018 world champions are once again that angry team with defeat, that monster of pride that refuses to turn the other cheek when slapped first.
The Belgians had a bitter experience on Thursday (2-3), the Spaniards too. The semi-finalists of the last Euro football barely had time to kiss and mess Mikel Oyarzabal after his opener (0-1, 64e) that Benzema was cleaning a skylight to erase this advantage in stride (1-1, 66e).
At the microphone of M6, Paul Pogba pleaded guilty for this taste for reaction. “We have to do better, we know that. But the result is the final victory. If that’s how we should win, why not! We will continue like this “, announces the midfielder.
With these Blues, we must forget concepts such as the philosophy of play, continuity in performance or collective mastery. On Saturday, the Spanish coach, Luis Enrique, praised the French talents in a press conference (“You just have to look at the starting XI to see what type of players we are talking about”) and he called his players to “To be better than them collectively”.
Spain dominating, but powerless
As expected, the Spaniards were more coherent, better organized, almost a little too good students. “They won on the scoreboard and that’s it”whispered the captain, César Azpilicueta, about the French. Same story with Agenais de la Roja, Aymeric Laporte: “We played better than them, but what matters is the result. “
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