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Anyway, that’s it for tonight’s blog. I’ll leave you with Sid Lowe’s report from Munich - night!
There is a bit of talk about Rudiger biting Pogba just before half-time. I missed it, but it’s all over the usual channels. It doesn’t look like much to me, though I have been watching a lot of True Blood lately.
The decisive goal, or rather own goal, was scored by Mats Hummels, who had a pretty miserable night against Kylian Mbappe. Karim Benzema and Mbappe also had goals disallowed for offside in the second half. But France’s real stars were in midfield - in very different ways, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Adrien Rabiot were superb.
Germany were purposeful at times, desperate at others, and might need to think about whether their 3-4-3 system gets the best out of certain players. Yet they still had enough chances to draw the game, and I’d be loath to bury them. As Hugh McIlvanney once wrote, they could be very awkward revenants.
Full time: France 1-0 Germany
Peep peep! The world champions start their campaign with an assured victory in Munich. There wasn’t a huge amount in it but France were a bit smoother, a bit calmer, and won the game without really getting out of second gear.
90+4 min Rabiot is replaced by Ousmane Dembele. Talking of which.
“Rabiot has been brilliant,” says Kári Tulinius. “He marked Havertz out of the game, and has generally been the stone in Germany’s shoe for the whole game.”
90+3 min “So one of the favourites only wins thanks to an own goal,” says Lizz Poulter. “Not a devastating display of form.”
You don’t always get the full picture when doing an MBM, because half the match is spent looking at a computer screen, but I think France have looked terrific against a German side who will surprise a few people in the next fortnight.
90+1 min The pictures are back, and a groggy Adrien Rabiot is receiving treatment. There are six minutes of added time, though it should be seven or eight now because of this stoppage.
ITV HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!
89 min They’ve gone to an Alipay advert mid-match!
89 min Corentin Tolisso comes on replace Karim Benzema, who was fairly quiet but produced enough high-class touches on his return to competitive international football.
88 min Sane curls a poor effort miles over the bar.
88 min The free-kick is 22 yards out, just infield from the right edge of the area.
87 min Muller’s cross hits the raised arm of Rabiot just outside the area. Before the free-kick is taken, Germany bring on Emre Can and Kevin Volland for Ginter and Gosens.
NO GOAL! France 1-0 Germany
Clean, clinical and fractionally offside.
VAR check for offside! Pogba turned on the halfway line and put Mbappe clear in the inside-right channel. He moved into the area and slid the ball across to give Benzema a tap-in at the far post. Clean and clinical.
GOAL! France 2-0 Germany (Benzema 85)
Game over, and I don’t fancy anyone else’s chances in the tournament.
84 min Germany have had more possession, more shots and more corners - but France have been the better team. They look scary, not least because they haven’t really got out of second gear.
80 min Hummels took the ball but he went through Mbappe’s legs to do so. In the modern game, I think that’s a penalty. There was no VAR intervention though. I suppose you could argue that it wasn’t a clear and obvious error; personally I think it was.
80 min Bringing Mats Hummels out of international retirement at the age of 32, to face Kylian Mbappe, is a human rights violation.
78 min: Big shout for a France penalty! Pogba finds Mbappe, who plays the ball off to Benzema in the centre circle. He knows he can’t control it with defenders close to him so he improvises (I think) an ingenious first-time push into the abundant space behind the defence. Mbappe again destroys Hummels, who had a five-yard start, and moves into the area. Then he cuts across Hummels, who makes a desperate tackle from the side. Mbappe goes down, the referee moves his whistle towards his mouth... and then doesn’t blow it. Hummels definitely got the ball, but whether he came through Mbappe to do so is the issue. We haven’t seen a replay yet.
76 min A decent cross on the turn from Kimmich is claimed by Lloris. France haven’t quite declared at 1-0, but it’s fair to say a second goal is no longer their priority.
75 min “If Werner had been picked ahead of Gnabry,” begins Ian Copestake, “I guess Germany would still be playing with a false nine! I’m here all week. Try the schnitzel.”
Normally I wouldn’t allow cheap digs at such an admirable footballer, but the comic timing of that jaunty exclamation mark was too good.
74 min A double change for Germany: Werner, Sane replace Gnabry and Havertz.
72 min There’s a break in play because of what looks like a muscle injury to Ginter.
71 min This is a good spell for Germany, probably their best of the match. Timo Werner and Leroy Sane are about to come on.
69 min “Pavard just got knocked out (actually knocked out) and he’s still on,” says Frazier Stroud. “Genuinely dangerous that he’s still playing.”
I was so busy typing that I didn’t really see whether he was out cold, but the broader point, that head injuries aren’t taken seriously enough, is undeniable. It’s getting better, though not quickly enough.
66 min: Mbappe has a goal disallowed for offside! Ach, that’s a shame as it was a beautiful finish. Pogba reversed a majestic angled pass over the defence to Mbappe, who twisted his man inside out, then inside again before shaping a curler into the net off the far post. At that moment the flag went up, and replays confirmed he was offside when he received the pass from Pogba.
66 min Benzema cuts inside from the left and hits a rasping shot that is blocked.
64 min “As an entry in the annals of best-ever, what are your opinions on Makelele vs. Kante?” says Peter Turner. “Are they comparable players? Who was better? I never really got to see Makelele play. And who else should be considered?”
Makelele was much better at the deliberately clumsy foul. Kante’s tackles are much cleaner in both senses. My feeling is that Makelele was more consistent over a longer period, but at his peak Kante is superior. That said, there are folk who will have seen much more of them than I have.
The greatest defensive midfielder of all time is Obdulio Varela, but that’s another story.
61 min Pavard is going to continue.
60 min Pavard is still down, and in the current climate I’m surprised Gosens hasn’t been at least booked. It was vaguely reminiscent of, yep, Schumacher and Battiston. Pavard still has all his teeth but he may have to go off with either concussion or a jaw problem.
58 min Kimmich’s brilliant clipped cross is almost met by the flying Gosens, who arrives like a desperate superhero at the far post. Pavard heads it clear and is smashed in the face either by the knee or the hip of Gosens, who then falls over himself when he lands. A split-second later, Kroos’s long-range shot hits Gosens in the six-yard box. That wouldn’t have counted as Gosens had been rightly penalised for the challenge on Pavard.
58 min At times Germany have been a bit of a mess in this game, yet they could still have scored three or four. There’s a moral in that story, though I’ve no idea what it is.
57 min Gnabry runs onto Kimmich’s angled through ball from the right. He tries to go round the outrushing Lloris, who clears the ball with his thigh as he slides towards Gnabry. That was a crucial touch, without which Germany would have surely been given a penalty.
56 min Benzema pinches the ball off Kimmich and immediately plays it in behind for Mbappe on the left. He is unusually indecisive and the attacks peters out. Moments later, Muller’s snapshot is crucially blocked by a defender, Varane I think.