Spain 5-4 France: Nations League semi-final – as it happened | Nations League
Key events
Sid Lowe’s match report has landed, which means it’s goodnight from me, and indeed him. Thanks for your company and emails. Bye-bye.
An alternative take on tonight’s game is that the players disgraced themselves. Here’s Jose Mourinho after Arsenal won 5-4 at White Hart Lane in 2040.
Five-four is a hockey score, not a football score.
In a three-against-three training match, if the score reaches 5-4 I send the players back to the dressing rooms as they are not defending properly.
So to get a result like that in a game of 11 against 11 is disgraceful.
“Well, that was good silly fun,” says Kári Tulinius, “but how did two teams with as many good defensive players allow this to happen? I’m hoping this and the Barcelona v Inter semifinal is a sign we’re entering a period of football dominated by attacking, and not just that the two backlines wear already on the beach.”
Yeah, I’m still trying to make sense of it. End-of-season fatigue? Nations League sweet spot? I’m not sure. Whatever the reason, ‘good silly fun’ is a very nice way to describe it.
That was like a game from the 1950s, with each team taking it in turns to attack and both defences largely powerless to stop them. There were attempts on goal, 17 of them on target, and it’s not much of an exaggeration to say the game could have finished 10-10.
Full time: Spain 5-4 France
Spain will play Portugal in the Nations League final on Sunday after a memorable game of footbasketball in Stuttgart. Spain led 4-0 and 5-1 but France refused to go away and came close to a comeback for the ages.
90+6 min A Spain player has been booked for kicking the ball away, don’t ask me who it was. France have a free-kick to throw into the box, their last chance… and Unai Simon comes out to claim with authority.
GOAL! Spain 5-4 France (Kolo Muani 90+4)
Haha, this is ludicrous. Cherki – what a player he looks – teases a gorgeous cross from the right edge of the area and Kolo Muani scores with a downward header from five yards.
90+2 min Gusto’s cross is headed well wide by the off-balance Barcola. Time is running out for France.
90 min Five minutes of added time. Spain bring on Gavi for Mikel Merino.
87 min: Chance for France! Barcola surges down the left, turns back and tees up the onrushing Kolo Muani on the edge of the area. He sidefoots over the bar and Didier Deschamps waves his arms in disgust.
86 min Samu gets beyond the France defence and sweeps a shot across goal that Maignan does well to save with his legs.
GOAL! Spain 5-3 France (Vivian og 84)
Okay this is ridiculous. Malo Gusto’s excellent low cross is turned into his own net by Vivian, who had to do something with Mbappe waiting behind him to score.
84 min “Scotland play Iceland in a friendly at Hampden tomorrow, Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Should provide a nice counterpoint to this game.”
82 min Yamal wriggles away from Theo Hernandez, who essentially tries to kidnap him with a weirdly tender rugby tackle. He’s booked.
80 min I’ve just realised this is Cherki’s first game for France. Can’t be many who have scored a better goal on their international debut.
GOAL! Spain 5-2 France (Cherki 79)
Rayan Cherki, one of Europe’s most coveted young players, adds to his fast-growing reputation with a fantastic volley. My word, that’s a storming goal. Mbappe played a simple pass to him on the edge of the D; he stunned the ball up in the air and lashed a volley that beat Simon for pace.
78 min Spain v Portugal in the final? Oh go on then.
77 min: Double substitution for Spain Dani Vivian and Samu replace Robin Le Normand and Mikel Oyzarzabal, whose excellent hold-up play led to the first two goals.
76 min: France substitution Randal Kolo Muani replaces Ousmane Dembele.
76 min Spain are winning 5-1 and their keeper has been brilliant. Unai Simon makes another good save, plunging to his right to push Mbappe’s shot round the post.
74 min “$£!@£$!,” writes Charles Antaki. “Can’t think of a better response to all of this – hard to keep up. Dictionary Corner: turns out that kind of cartoon code for impoliteness is called Grawlix. If there’s another goal there’ll be more of it.”
73 min “You can’t give the Ballon d’Or to a teenager, can you?” says Joe Pearson. “Can you?”
I mean you can, but it’s never happened before. I think Ronaldo (the original) is the youngest winner at 21.
72 min: Dembele hits the post from a seriously tight angle. This game is bonkers.
72 min: France substitution Lucas Hernandez replaces Clement Lenglet.
70 min The scary thing is that France have played well, certainly in attack. Spain, once ridiculed for being all hat and no cattle, have been a model of efficiency tonight.
Lamine Yamal has got his second with a terrific finish. Zubimendi lofted a pass out to Porro, who cushioned a lovely first-time volley behind the France. Yamal ran onto it, slithered away from the last defender Lenglet and poked an early shot across goal that Maignan – who was setting himself for the kind of shot a normal human being would have taken – could only help into the net. Just brilliant.
GOAL! Spain 5-1 France (Yamal 67)
That’s the end of that.
66 min Dembele’s corner from the right is volleyed over by Barcola, 12 yards out at the far post. He caught it sweetly but couldn’t keep the shot down.
64 min: Double substitution for Spain Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo come on for Pedri and Nico Williams.
64 min: Triple substitution for France Rayan Cherki, Malo Gusto and Bradley Barcola replace Kalulu, Doue and Olise.
62 min: Doue goes close! Maybe Mbappe is right. After a long spell of French possession in the final third, Doue whips a curling shot across goal and not far wide.
GOAL! Spain 4-1 France (Mbappe 59 pen)
Mbappe sends Simon the wrong way and runs to pick the ball out of the net. He still thinks there’s some life in this game.
58 min: Penalty to France! Mbappe gets the wrong side of Pedro Porro, who panics and puts hands on his man. Mbappe accepts the invitation and throws himself to the floor. It’s soft but I can’t see it being overturned.
Two quick goals in the first half, two even quicker ones in the second. Pedri strode forward from midfield, lent the ball to Nico Williams, got it back and clipped the ball over Maignan with a swagger.
It was a fine finish from Pedri, not least because Williams’ return pass was slightly behind him. He dragged it into the space, weighting the touch perfectly, and then stunned it over Maignan.
GOAL! Spain 4-0 France (Pedri 55)
Well that escalated quickly.
GOAL! Spain 3-0 France (Yamal 54 pen)
Yamal takes the penalty himself, rolling it decisively into the bottom-right corner. Maignan went the wrong way.
52 min: The penalty stands It was an ill-conceived tackle from Rabiot, and that’s being kind. He had to do something with Yamal through on goal, but taking a shortcut through the back of Yamal wasn’t the ideal solution.
Penalty to Spain!
51 min France lose the ball in a dangerous area. Williams plays in Yamal, who is brought down by his old friend Rabiot. He pleads his innocence but it was a clear foul and Rabiot is booked.
France may yet be saved by an offside decision against Yamal.
48 min The other left-back Hernandez combines with Doue and fires a similar ball right across the face of goal. Dembele couldn’t quite reach it on the stretch.
47 min After some good link play from Dembele and Olise, Kalulu fires a low cross that flashes through the six-yard box, literally begging for somebody to score. Mick Quinn would have put that away, you know it and I know it.
46 min Spain get the second half under way – no changes on either side.
“Would Huijsen’s disallowed goal fall into the shortlist for best disallowed goal of all time?” asks Colum Fordham, who already knows the answer has three letters. “Quite stunning. I think some goals should be allowed if they meet certain aesthetic criteria and VAR be dammed. Great match between two highly technical sides. The Spanish keeper Simon is having a great game.”
Half-time reading
Half time: Spain 2-0 France
That first half was a tremendous advert for the Nations League. There were 22 shots at goal – 13 from France, who were arguably the better team aside from the devastating four-minute period in which Nico Williams and Mikel Merino scored for Spain.
45+2 min Rabiot leaves a bit on Yamal, who made a fool of him in last year’s semi-final. Not quite enough for a yellow card.
45+1 min “Is the France manager still unpopular or does Eric Cantona’s opinion not reflect that?” writes Ian Copestake. “Water-carrying your way to semi-finals also wasn’t good enough for the great British public I recall.”
45 min Dembele tries to take matters into his own hands – well, his left foot – with a scurrying run and swept shot from the D that is held to his left by the flying Simon. He’s had an excellent half.
BRILLIANT DISALLOWED GOAL!
44 min A beautiful free-kick routine from Spain ends with Huijsen hooking a brilliant volley past Maignan – but the man who headed the ball across to him, Zubimendi, was fractionally offside.
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