Croatia blank France 2-0 to spoil Mbappe’s return

SPLIT, Croatia (AP):

Croatia contained the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele in a 2-0 victory over France in the first leg of the Nations League quarterfinals yesterday.

Ante Budimir headed Croatia ahead in the 26th minute off a cross from Ivan Perisic with France goalkeeper Mike Maignan partially blocking the ball before it crossed the line.

Perisic doubled the advantage in first-half stoppage time in Split to spoil Mbappe's return after a six-month absence from the national team.

Andrej Kramaric's penalty in the eighth minute was saved by Maignan, who dived to the right but used his feet to make the stop.

Mbappe tested Dominik Livakovic with several shots in the first half but the Croatia goalkeeper produced some decent saves to deny him. Both Mbappe and Dembele, the French league's top scorer for Paris Saint-Germain, have already reached the 30-goal mark overall this season.

Mbappe, the Real Madrid star, captained Les Bleus in what was his first start for the national team since a 3-1 loss to Italy on September 6.

The 26-year-old Mbappe is third on France's all-time scoring list with 48 goals, but he has found the net in only two of his past 13 international games.

In other first-leg quarterfinal matches, Germany came from behind to beat Italy 2-1, defending champions Spain salvaged a 2-2 draw against 10-man Netherlands, and Denmark beat Portugal 1-0.

The winners will qualify for the four-team final tournament on June 4-8.

The second-leg matches are scheduled for Sunday.

Germany win

at San Siro

Germany captain Joshua Kimmich set up both German goals in a second-half comeback.

He provided a cross from the right shortly after the interval for Tim Kleindienst to head in an equaliser.

Kimmich provided the same service for Leon Goretzka from the corner in the 76th to score the winner in the 2-1 victory, the first win for Germany in Italy since 1986.