The French approached the second match of the group stage in the status of a favorite. For their rivals, the Danish national team, the victory in this game was fundamental – after a nondescript performance against Tunisia, the team drove itself into a dead end. So on the field, the “scarlet guard” came out as charged as possible, and most of the fans seemed to be rooting against the reigning champions. During the entire match, the stadium mercilessly booed team leader Kylian Mbappe.

However, this seems to have even helped the star striker. The haters provoked the Frenchman – and he single-handedly brought victory to his team.

Don’t wake the beast in Kilian!

Champions match?

On November 26, the national teams of France and Denmark met for the seventh time in history as part of one of the two largest football tournaments – the World and European Championships. Continental championship in these statistics is remembered not by chance, since the games of these teams belong to an entertaining fact. If their match falls in the group stage, then almost certainly one of the duo will become the winner of the tournament.

Only once out of six previous cases did this pattern fail. France won the Euros in 1984 and 2000, and the World Cups in 1998 and 2018. Denmark responded in 1992 when they entered the tournament instead of Yugoslavia and sensationally took the trophy.

Photo: © RIA Novosti / Anton Denisov

In general, even the most incredulous fan of such coincidences can think about interesting coincidences. But that was not the only intriguing detail. Perhaps much more interesting is the fact that these teams are in the same group this season of the League of Nations and have already played two matches. Both times the victory was celebrated by Denmark, so Didier Deschamps probably longed for revenge. Well, the Danes simply couldn’t lose points after the draw with Tunisia.

Fighter Kilian

The teams played the first half in a calm manner. Most of the game took place in the middle of the field, so that the goalkeepers rested in their possessions. Even Mbappe, who traditionally torments opponents on his left flank, was mysteriously silent.

At the same time, the stands booed the star of PSG and the national team mercilessly every time the 23-year-old player touched the ball. It might seem that such a harsh reception from the audience really affects Kilian’s game.

However, the class of the team and the individual player is to ignore the pressure and use their chances or, in the case of geniuses, create them. So the Frenchman, who was tightly restrained by Rasmus Christensen for most of the match, drew a pass in the 61st minute, after which his partner Theo Hernandez collected the laurels of a brilliant assistant, returning the ball back to the striker. Mbappe completed the attack with an accurate blow.

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By such a game, one could assume that the job was done. But after seven minutes, Eriksen’s corner kick ended with an accurate header from Andreas Christensen. The quick comeback allowed the Danes to believe in the possibility of winning the match. They increased the number of attacks and were even close to the second goal, but Hugo Lloris saved the team several times.

Four minutes before the end of normal time, Mbappe fired a control shot: on a short dash, he broke away from the defender and perfectly closed the feed from the flank from Griezmann.

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The fans, who booed the footballer in the first half, silently watched his triumphant response. The Frenchman provided his national team with the maximum result in the first two matches and guaranteed the team access to the playoffs. At this tournament, Mbappe has already scored three goals – one less than in the entire championship tournament in Russia. It’s only the beginning!