The Blues won, but Benzema came out injured – Francois Mori / AP / SIPA
At the Stade de France,
The Blues did not miss their reunion with the return of supporters of the Stade de France, Tuesday evening. The French team beat Bulgaria 3-0 and go serene to face the Europe of football. Small ink stain at the bottom of the page all the same: the exit on injury of Karim Benzema at the end of the first period, and the concern in the gaze of the Real Madrid striker with each close-up of his face on the bench replacements. We would have been without such a sudden stress before the Euro.
Noise and Grizou
The evening had started well for KB9 and his teammates, all warmly acclaimed by a crowd transcended by the long-awaited reunion before kick-off. The story does not say if it is due to the lack of habit or to a real effervescence, but the 5,000 spectators seemed very noisy to us when Kylian Mbappé approached for the first time Daniel Naumov’s cage, in start of meeting. And even more on the spectacular but somewhat lucky opening of Antoine Griezmann (30th) on a slightly deviated return. Jubilant for everyone.
Hello, it’s Giroud
We must nevertheless admit that without this post-apocalyptic festive context, the evening would have been almost disappointing. The Bulgarians did what was expected of them, namely to play with no other ambition than to resist, and the Blues for a long time lacked precision and ideas in the opposing area until the late goals of Olivier Giroud (83rd and 89th), who said to himself that well, after all, why not relaunch the debate on the 9th. France assured before packing for Munich, but let us refrain from igniting ourselves: in a week, it will be there ‘Germany opposite. Please wet the back of your neck well before entering the large European bath.