Mendy plays full 90 in France’s 4-2 win over Croatia in Nations League

The repeat of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final between France and Croatia saw the defending world champions win with the exact same scoreline from two summers ago.

Ferland Mendy and France took a 4-2 win over Croatia in a rather strange match. Croatia conceded both an own goal and a penalty kick after France had a fairly poor first half of play.

Mendy played fine, registering a shot and a key pass. Didier Deschamps started him on the left side in a 3-4-1-2 formation. Mendy was more of a wingback for this match.

He and Clement Lenglet did struggle greatly defending Croatia’s second goal from Wolfsburg’s Josip Brekalo after a phenomenal pass from Mateo Kovacic.

Raphael Varane was rested for this match and it was clear France missed his presence at the back. The defense looked disjointed for a good portion of this match. Luka Modric was still sitting out for Croatia.

As a potential Real player in the future, Eduardo Camavinga made modern history as the youngest player to debut for France since 1914 at the age of 17. He had an instant impact after subbing on and created two dangerous opportunities.

Elsewhere around the Nations League, Eden Hazard sat for the entire match in Belgium’s 5-1 victory over Iceland. He sat out their last match against Denmark as well.

Former Madridista Cristiano Ronaldo also scored his 100th and 101st international goals for Portugal. He is the first player to hit triple digits in international competition.

The Nations League returns in October. Mendy, Varane and France will be taking on Portugal on October 11th. The same day Belgium will be taking on England while Croatia face Sweden.

The next time you see these players will be in white as Real Madrid take on Real Sociedad on September 20.