On Tuesday evening at 9pm, the first semi-final of Euro 2024 will pit Spain against France. Even if Kylian Mbappé’s level of play may seem worrying, Didier Deschamps should not be without his captain’s services at the start of this crucial match.
Two days before this match, Marc Cucurella was questioned about a possible anti-Mbappé device. “Football is a team sport, began by recalling the Chelsea defender. If it were one-on-one, it would be complicated, but in the end it will depend on all of us. I think we have shown that we are a very united team, we make a lot of effort and we give everything for each other. That will be the key: being united, knowing what we have to do at all times and minimizing their counterattacks.”
Spain focuses on its collective
And the player trained at La Masia continued: “In this kind of tournament it is better to have a team, a family, for the 26 players to be united, to be better as a collective, than to have superstars. And that is what we are demonstrating. We will have to be very focused against France and be vigilant because they have very fast players. We will try to recover the ball quickly when we lose it and, if we manage to do so, we will have many options in the game.”
It has now been twelve years since Spain last won the continental competition. As for Les Bleus, you have to go back to the year 2000 to find their record in a Euro, two years after the World Cup on home soil.
