France’s golden triangle of strikers a formidable asset in Euro 2021 campaign

Issued on: 16/06/2021 – 17:21

The 1-0 score in France’s victorious opener against Germany was misleading – as the French attack whetted football fans’ appetite for the later round, with lacerating pace and incisive passes. Les Bleus deserved a much more generous score-sheet than a single Mats Hummels own goal.

Although they were shown to be offside, Mbappé and Benzema showed consummate finishing skills in two disallowed goals. In particular, Mbappé showed just how much three years of experience have refined his rough talent since Les Bleus’ 2018 World Cup win – notably with an exquisitely timed and positioned run to take advantage of an impeccable Paul Pogba pass on a lacerating French counter-attack, setting up Benzema (who was, alas, offside).

The Griezmann-Benzema-Mbappé trio had not played together until the run-up to the Euros. But so far they have shown the right chemistry.

Les Bleus were at their most lethal on the counter-attack, letting their opponents take possession like a coiled spring before surging forth – reminiscent of the approach Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United perfected in big Champions League games at their late 2000s peak.

Here Mbappé’s lacerating pace was at its most dangerous – especially because he has now perfected the art of combining it with delicate skills on the ball to confound defenders.

Pundits were right to predict that Mbappé would become one of the best players on the planet when he burst onto the scene at the World Cup three years ago. His record of 78 goals in 80 games for PSG speaks for itself.

But perhaps even more significantly, the 22-year-old has shown the kind of resolve under pressure that can power teams through difficult moments in the latter stages of big tournaments: Mbappé was Ligue 1’s top scorer with 27 goals during a sometimes turbulent season for PSG, who were toppled from their status as perennial winners by scrappy giant-killers Lille.

Griezmann’s textbook bicycle-kick

Across the pitch from Mbappé, on the left wing of France’s attack, Antoine Griezmann is another giant of the game who has shown great pertinacity for his club. Griezmann spent five years at Atletico Madrid – the Spanish capital’s working-class team who have long fought to supplant their better-resourced, aristocratic rivals Real. Despite some extraordinary players, Atletico failed to break through during this period; the Europa League was the only trophy they won.

Yet Griezmann loyally persisted there in the face of repeated speculation that he would transfer to a bigger, richer club – while cementing his status as one of the best footballers playing today, combining creative flair to create goals for others with the clinical finishing skills that gave him 94 goals in 180 appearances for Atletico.

When Griezmann finally transferred to Barcelona for €120 million in 2019, the 30-year-old emphasised that it was out of desire to learn new skills from the Catalans’ distinctively fluid passing game, telling journalists: “I didn’t leave Atletico for money [or] to win the Champions League or to win more trophies. I left to learn a new style of play, new philosophies.”

There is no question that Griezmann shows Les Bleus the same level of dedication. He was named man of the match for his extraordinary performance in their 4-2 final victory over Croatia – notably with his masterful pass to Paul Pogba, creating the third goal despite France’s unpropitious positioning at that moment.

Then Griezmann demonstrated that he intends to offer the same quality performances at the Euros, with a splendid bicycle kick to the back of the net as the ball bounced towards him unexpectedly in the warm-up friendly against Bulgaria.

Giroud the ‘go-kart’?

Karim Benzema was the player whose performance everyone was anticipating ahead of France’s 3-0 victory over Bulgaria. The 33-year-old Real Madrid striker is indubitably one of the best forwards of his generation – with near-flawless positioning and shooting skills, as demonstrated by his 192 goals in 383 games for the Spanish giants.

But many were surprised that French manager Didier Deschamps included him in Les Bleus’ Euro squad. Before the 2018 World Cup, Deschamps said he was “selecting only players who could gel as a cohesive unit”. That meant Benzema was still out. Deschamps had excluded him from Euro 2016 due to his alleged role in a blackmailing scandal. At the time, Benzema, who is of Algerian family origin, accused Deschamps of “bowing to a racist part of France”. Deschamps rejected the accusation, and recently told journalists he has “not forgotten” what Benzema said.

Benzema stirred further controversy last year when he compared himself to “Formula 1” and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud to a “go-kart” last year. Giroud is an often underestimated player who enjoyed little playing time for Chelsea last season, despite his selfless performances making a major contribution to France’s 2018 World Cup victory. But the “go-kart” got the last laugh against the Real Madrid striker – for now – when he replaced an injured Benzema at the centre of France’s three-man attack 39 minutes into the Bulgaria game: Giroud scored a brace after coming off the bench.

Giroud needs to be careful to manage his relationships with fellow France strikers. Mbappé was notably absent in the celebrations for Giroud’s first goal against Bulgaria. French football fans soon understood why when tensions between the two hit the media last weekend. “I was quiet because sometimes you make a run and the balls just don’t arrive,” Giroud told L’Équipe TV.

Mbappé told a press conference he was a “little affected” by Giroud’s remarks: “I saw him in the dressing room, I congratulated him on his goals, he didn’t say anything to me. I heard about it in the press. That’s more important than what he said; he didn’t say anything bad.”

But Giroud already showed that Les Bleus are much more focused on capturing the trophy than on satisfying the media with disputes. As journalists highlighted Benzema’s disparaging remarks earlier this month, Giroud told French daily Le Figaro that winning the Euros is the important thing – and that he and Benzema will “celebrate it with a go-kart race”.