\nMILAN, 11 Oct: Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 scored late as world champion France came from behind to win the Nations League with a 2-1 victory over Spain in the final on Sunday.
\nMbapp\u00e9 netted with 10 minutes remaining as France was again forced to fight back, just as it had done in the semifinals against Belgium.
\nThere were few chances in a cagey final in Milan but the match burst into life shortly after the hour mark.
\nMoments after France hit the woodwork, Mikel Oyarzabal fired Spain in front but its lead lasted less than two minutes before a magnificent finish from Karim Benzema.
\n\u201cThis is the first piece of silverware I\u2019ve won with France so I\u2019m very proud and delighted,” said Benzema, who only recently returned to the France squad after a five-year absence.
\n“We played two top-level performances. We went out there to win the trophy so I\u2019m delighted for the team as a whole and I\u2019m proud as an individual.\u201d
\nThere was a video review for a possible offside on Mbapp\u00e9 but the goal was given as Spain defender Eric Garc\u00eda was the last to touch the ball as he attempted to intercept the pass to the France forward.
\n\u201cI’m used to not talking about referees and I concentrate on what I can control,\u201d Spain coach Luis Enrique said. “I don’t think I’ve ever talked bad about referees.
\n\u201cI’ve got nothing to say. I concentrate on trying to make my teams play the best way and accepting wins and losses.\u201d
\nEuropean champion Italy beat Belgium 2-1 in the third-place match earlier Sunday.
\nSpain beat Italy 2-1 in their semifinal game with Ferran Torres netting both goals. There had been doubts about Torres\u2019 fitness but he recovered to start the final. Midfielder Adrien Rabiot was absent for France after testing positive for the coronavirus.
\nFrance started well and almost took an early lead as Benzema rounded Spain goalkeeper Unai Sim\u00f3n and attempted to roll across for Mbapp\u00e9 but the ball was cleared by C\u00e9sar Azpilicueta.
\nSpain went closer five minutes later as Torres threaded the ball through to Pablo Sarabia but his fairly tame shot was an easy catch for France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
\nSpain dominated possession but created few chances. It was the only side to have a shot on target in the first half though.
\nTheo Hern\u00e1ndez had scored the last-minute winner for France against Belgium and he ignited Sunday\u2019s final when his effort crashed off the underside of the bar and out in France\u2019s first real sight of goal in the 63rd minute.
\nMoments later, however, it was Spain which broke the deadlock as Oyarzabal raced onto Sergio Busquets\u2019 ball over the top and fired into the bottom right corner.
\nOyarzabal had set up both of Torres’ goals in the semifinal match.
\nBut France was swiftly back on level terms as Benzema cut in from the left and curled a sumptuous effort into the top right corner.
\nAnd the stage was set for Mbapp\u00e9 to score the winner as he and France continue their revival. Mbapp\u00e9 was judged to have sprung the offside trap as he raced onto Theo Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s through ball and placed it into the bottom right corner.
\nLloris pulled off two great saves from point-blank range to deny first Oyarzabal and then Yeremi Pino as France survived a late siege by Spain.
\nMbapp\u00e9 has now scored in successive matches, after two goals in his previous 13 internationals.
\nIt was the third straight victory for France. (AP)<\/p>\n
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MILAN, 11 Oct: Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 scored late as world champion France came from behind to win the Nations League with a 2-1 victory over Spain in the final on Sunday. Mbapp\u00e9 netted with 10 minutes remaining as France was again forced to fight back, just as it had done in the semifinals against Belgium. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-174010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}