Carried by Giroud, France easily won against Bulgaria
It was their last dance at home, and the France team took advantage of its reunion with its audience. In a Stade de France filled with 5,000 satisfied supporters, the Blues dominated Bulgaria in large widths (3-0), a few days before the start of Euro 2021, disseminated in eleven cities of the continent.
Having once again aligned his trio Mbappé – Griezmann – Benzema at the forefront of the attack, Didier Deschamps hoped to see his attack dominate the Bulgarian team, not qualifying for the Euro. And as against Wales, Wednesday in Nice (3-0), the French arrows shone. “I was not worried, so I don’t have to be reassured”, breathed the French technician after the meeting, at the microphone of M6.
Worried, the French were worried, when shortly before the break, Karim Benzema left, following an injury. Returning from a long absence, after a ban, the Real Madrid striker was the victim of a shock on a Pavard cross, and immediately came out, replaced by Olivier Giroud. At the break, the French coach reassured the state of his attacker, evoking a crutch, and an exit to take no risk.
Because the Blues have quickly put the game in their hands. Multiplying the assaults on Naumov’s cages, Hugo Lloris’ teammates found the loophole through Antoine Griezmann. The FC Barcelona player unlocked the match with an acrobatic strike, countered by a defender, who ended up in the back of the net (1-0, 29th). And so scored his 37th goal in blue, approaching Michel Platini (41 goals). If the world champions played attack-defense most of the time in this match, with Bulgarians confined to defense, the score was only 1-0 at the break, goalkeeper Naumov having increased the saves of class. Like a voluntary Kylian Mbappé, but rough in the last gesture, France did not manage to make the break.
A new double for “the phoenix” Giroud
“There were a lot of very, very good things, greeted Deschamps, afterwards I managed the players in relation to the workload. I used the changes to distribute the playing time. ” In total, the Blues have shot on goal 26 times, and have framed ten times. But sometimes struggled to make the mark worse.
The refreshing entry of Lucas Digne in place of Lucas Hernandez, energized the left side of the France team. The player multiplying the centers and combining well with Mbappé. But it is paradoxically on the right side, on a center line from Benjamin Pavard, that the Blues have widened the gap, by a burst of the inevitable Olivier Giroud. The recent European champion (with Chelsea) took advantage of a good cross from Benjamin Pavard to deflect the ball into the Bulgarian cages and blow the Blues, a few minutes after the only Bulgarian shot of the meeting made Didier Deschamps wince (2-0, 83rd). Rebelote less than ten minutes later for the French number 9. On a pass from Ben Yedder, well launched on the left by Thomas Lemar, Giroud scored a double, at close range. His 46th goal in the blue jersey.
“The Grenoble phoenix, that’s what some of my friends call me”, smiled the number 9 of the Blues, who is approaching the record of goals in the blue jersey of Thierry Henry (51 goals), welcoming the defensive rigor demonstrated by his team. “We put on the warmth, when we didn’t have the ball, we did the defensive replacements, we need this rigor. We know that when we have the ball, it’s not the most complicated for us. “
Winners without having been worried, and satisfied with their preparation, the Blues now aspire to start the real competition. “We are there, we know what awaits us, the competition is starting”, smiled Didier Deschamps. Logically, the France team should get there in full – Benzema’s injury does not seem to worry the coach. And with a hell of a favorite tag on the back.
Thank you to all of you for having followed this meeting with us, we will meet again on Friday for new adventures. For us too, the Euro will begin.
