Match Report - France Vs Spain

Match Report - France Vs Spain

France starting XI: Lloris, Debuchy, Varane, Sakho, Evra, Pogba, Matuidi, Sissoko, Valbuena, Griezmann, Benzema

Spain starting XI: De Gea, Carvajal, Ramos, San Jose, Azpilicueta, Busquets, Cazorla, Koke, Raul Garcia, Fabregas, Costa

France managed to knock past a new look Spanish side with a solitary goal from Loic Remy, who just finalized his move to Chelsea on the eve of deadline day. Spain's disastrous run of form continued as they slumped to a third defeat in their last four games.

It was all going according to the plan for both the teams except for the Spaniards who were toothless with majority of possession. On the other hand, it was the French who were the livelier of the two sides as they had quite a few chances on the counter. One of the best chance was to Karim Benzema who slotted Sissoko's fine cross home only to be judged offside by the linesman. It was a harsh one as the replays showed he was clearly onside. Mathieu Valbuena was the pick of the bunch from attackers while the prodigal son Paul Pogba was also quite brilliant.

While Spain looked very out of sorts. The fact that they had no shot on target in the entire match sums everything up. It is very sorry to see that even with the likes of the Chelsea duo of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa along with Santi Cazorla they failed to even poke Hugo Lloris.

Didier Deschamps took a dig at his Spanish counterpart by saying that he needs to reinvent himself, "Spain used to play with their eyes shut with
movement, precision, understanding.
"Vicente Del Bosque's a very good coach, but he's no more of a magician than anyone else."

Del Bosque defended his side's dismal performance by hiding under the 'rebuilding' blanket, "It's true we didn't create a clear chance, but we
got ourselves into some dangerous positions.
"It's a regeneration process, and that is what we're aspiring to.
"You can't always look back in football, and I was pleased with the attitude of the players."