France and the Netherlands edged in the direction of the final 16 of Euro 2024 after a 0-0 attract Leipzig that didn’t catch fireplace within the absence of Kylian Mbappe. The French captain sat out the entire match from the bench after breaking his nostril in France’s opening 1-0 win over Austria simply 4 days in the past. Xavi Simons had a purpose controversially dominated out for the Dutch, whereas Antoine Griezmann wasted two wonderful probabilities for France. A share of the spoils leaves the edges degree on 4 factors on the high of Group D, one forward of Austria who beat Poland 3-1 earlier on Friday. France tackle the Poles, whereas the Netherlands face Austria within the last video games of the part on Tuesday.
Les Bleus had received each conferences when these sides met in qualifying however Mbappe scored 4 of France’s six targets in these video games.
Roared on by an orange wall round two-thirds of the Leipzig Stadium, the Dutch practically pounced on any French uncertainty inside a minute.
The explosive tempo of Jeremie Frimpong took him clear on purpose however the Bayer Leverkusen man couldn’t produce a clear end and Mike Maignan turned his shot behind.
Aurelien Tchouameni changed Mbappe in France’s solely change as coach Didier Deschamps sought the safety of an additional midfielder.
With out their captain and talisman, the 2022 World Cup finalists turned to Griezmann for inspiration.
The stand-in skipper stung the palms of Bart Verbruggen from distance.
However the Atletico Madrid ahead had a second to overlook with the largest likelihood to open the scoring earlier than half-time.
An intricate transfer performed in Adrien Rabiot however when he determined to go reasonably than shoot, Griezmann failed to attach on his weaker proper foot.
On the different finish, Maignan needed to produce one other high-quality save low to his left to show Cody Gakpo’s drive behind.
France had the higher probabilities within the second interval.
Marcus Thuram fizzed a shot simply vast from the sting of the realm earlier than Tchouameni couldn’t hold a header down.
The usually dependable Griezmann was responsible of one other massive miss when his weak effort was turned behind by Verbruggen with the purpose gaping.
However the main speaking level of the primary goalless draw of the match noticed the Dutch denied a winner.
Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Simons fired in on the rebound after Maignan saved from Memphis Depay 18 minutes from time.
The purpose was dominated out by the officers on the sphere for offside as Denzel Dumfries was adjudged to be interfering with Maignan’s capacity to cease the shot.
After a prolonged VAR verify, which has been a welcome rarity on the match to this point, the offside was confirmed and France handed a reprieve.
Deschamps rejected the possibility to danger Mbappe for the closing levels as he as a substitute despatched on Olivier Giroud and Kingsley Coman searching for a winner.
However either side settled for some extent that’s already doubtless sufficient to safe their passage to the knockout rounds because of the protection web that sees the 4 finest third-placed finishers advance.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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