Croatia contained the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé in a 2-0 victory over France in the first leg of the Nations League quarterfinals Thursday.
Ivan Perisic scored one goal and made another as Croatia beat France 2-0 on Thursday to seize the upper hand in the first leg of their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie.
Perisic crossed for Ante Budimir to head in the opener at the Stadion Poljud in Split after the home side had squandered an early penalty.
With France out of sorts, Perisic made it 2-0 before the break and a Croatia side captained by Luka Modric saw out the victory to take to Paris for the return match on Sunday.
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It was not a good night for France as captain Kylian Mbappe made his comeback having not featured in either of the last two international windows, in October and November.
Read moreFrance beat Israel in Nations League match despite Mbappe absence
Mbappe did have chances, notably seeing a deflected second-half shot from Ousmane Dembele's cutback kept out by a fine Dominik Livakovic save.
The Real Madrid superstar has now failed to find the net in his last six appearances for his country, since scoring a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Poland at Euro 2024.
"Croatia are obviously in a better situation," Deschamps added.
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