The France team ends its year 2021 with a smile. Three days after their resounding victory against Kazakhstan at the Parc des Princes (8-0), the Blues went to seek the three points in Finland on Tuesday, November 16 (0-2), after a long match. In the cold of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, it was Karim Benzema’s decisive entry into the hour mark and his technical relationship with Kylian Mbappé that made the difference.
Until the appearance on the field of the Real Madrid striker, the Finns had taken the game to their own after a first French half hour encouraging in intentions, but without really being dangerous. Because if the Blues, qualified for the World Cup since Saturday, had nothing to play in this meeting, the locals, they found themselves facing their history: in case of victory, they could obtain a place of barrage for, can -being, playing their very first World Cup, after their first Euro last summer.
So the Finns put pressure on Didier Deschamps’ players, pushed by their audience. But at the moment, nothing can resist the Benzema-Mbappé duo among the Blues. Barely entered the game, the Madrilenian shook the coconut palm in a meeting that was becoming soporific, proving once again that his technical relationship with Kylian Mbappé is reaching maturity. Ten days after his perfect assist for Neymar against Bordeaux in Ligue 1, Mbappé performed exactly the same with a splendid heel to serve Benzema who deceived the Finnish goalkeeper with success (66th).
4 – Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema both scored in 4 consecutive matches for France, a first since Benzema between November 2013 and June 2014 (5 matches). Complicity. #FINFRA https://t.co/KdJVCGF9ss
– OptaJean (@OptaJean) November 16, 2021
Already stirring in the first period, Mbappé seemed transformed after the entry of Benzema. The spaces left by the Finns carried towards the attack helping, the striker of Paris Saint-Germain managed to register his 24th goal in Blue following a dazzling acceleration concluded from a magnificent roll-up (76th). A few minutes later, his left strike was taken out by Lucas Hradecky, decisive on the spot (80th).
If the stake of this meeting in Finland was zero for the Blues, Didier Deschamps and his staff intended to win tonight and some of the substitutes, that of showing themselves in the eyes of the coach. Among the five changes at the start from Kazakhstan, Aurélien Tchouaméni has once again shown that he can be a credible alternative in the middle.
By winning this Tuesday in Helsinki, the French team ended the year undefeated. Above all, it allows the Blues to string together a 27th consecutive match without losing in official competition, since June 2019 and a defeat in Turkey (0-2), thus equaling the record established by Didier Deschamps and his teammates between September 1994 and March 1999. Something to satisfy the coach and his staff.
The French were the only ones to celebrate at the final whistle on the night of Helsinki, since the Finns were overtaken by Ukraine and will not take part in the play-offs.
In a fair way, facing the French involved who did not distort the end of qualification in this group D, the Grand-dukes Owls (the nickname of the Finnish selection) ended their year with disillusionment. Unlike the French, whose second part of the year will be more to remember than the first.