It wasn’t the European Championships of Frenchman Kylian Mbappé (l.), it is increasingly becoming Lamine Yamal’s tournament.
Foto: imago/Richard Sellers
The madness of European football is becoming apparent again these days. While a long season will culminate with the final at the European Championships next Sunday, others have long since returned to the day-to-day business of the new season: A number of clubs are currently fighting in qualifying to take part in the Champions League. Kylian Mbappé is now taking a break – after a total of 60 games.
The exit did not come as a surprise for the exceptional striker and his French team, after all, their opponents in the semi-finals in Munich were Spain. The best team in the European Championship won 2-1, partly because the French failed to somehow play their way into the tournament in three weeks. After two own goals and a penalty converted by Mbappé, they scored their first goal of the game on Tuesday evening. After nine minutes, Randal Kolo Muani headed in to take the lead.
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Low start on the center line
Saying goodbye to Germany was not easy for Mbappé in particular. He stood like a sprinter on the halfway line before the semi-final duel with Spain kicked off. After breaking his nose in France’s opening game against Austria at this European Championship, he wanted to finally make the tournament his own. He couldn’t do more than provide the assist to make it 1-0 in the first game without the eye-catching but extremely hindering mask. “I wanted to become European champion and play a good European Championship,” he said after the defeat and admitted: “I did neither one nor the other. “It’s a disappointment.”
Didier Deschamps was also denied great things. The 55-year-old could have been the first in world football to become world and European champions as both player and coach. The fact that this failed was his “responsibility,” he said. His analysis sounded a bit perplexed: “Even though we were able to take the lead, we lost the game in five minutes.” The Spaniards demonstrated their diversity: Lamine Yamal equalized in the 21st minute after a wonderful individual move. Daniel Olmo’s winning goal just four minutes later was no less worth seeing, but it was almost a logical consequence of the powerful Spanish game – from the outside or through the middle, with long periods of possession or quick combinations directly into the danger zone.
One-dimensional attacks
The French team didn’t have much to offer. The Spaniards were well prepared for the one-dimensional attacks, which were mostly carried out from the wings with only three target players, Mbappé, Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembélé. In midfield, the coach again relied on Adrien Rabiot and N’Golo Kanté. Their substitutions showed that Didier Deschamps missed the time for change in the team. 21-year-old Eduardo Camavinga from Real Madrid brought noticeably more dynamism, pressure and greed onto the pitch. But because the out-of-form 33-year-old Antoine Griezmann was also substituted after an hour of play, the French game remained as harmless as in the five previous tournament games.
Whether Deschamps will remain national coach after twelve very successful years is not a foregone conclusion. What is certain is that Kylian Mbappé can continue to “wear the French national jersey with pride.” He had hoped for this so much – and did a lot for it. Not on the pitch: The 25-year-old called on his compatriots twice during the European Championships to definitely go vote. The large turnout last Sunday also brought the result he had campaigned for. The National Assembly is not led by the ultra-right Rassemblement National. It is impossible to quantify what influence the footballer, with almost 120 million followers on Instagram, had on the election outcome. His political involvement certainly helped.
The course of professional football
The global star Mbappé is gone, and a new star is already shining in the European sky. Lamine Yamal personified the unstoppable march of professional football in Munich. With visible ease, a smile, full of pride and the Man of the Match trophy in his hand, the Spaniard took the three steps to the press room podium. At 16 years and 362 days, he is now the youngest goalscorer in European Championship history. »My goal was to celebrate my birthday in Germany. I did that,” said Yamal. The fast, tricky winger will be 17 years old next Saturday. A day later he won his first major title in the Berlin Olympic Stadium – and brought a new chapter to football history.
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