Kylian Mbappé’s nose, penalty shootouts and optimism… What state of mind are the Blues in before facing Belgium?

How are the Blues? The players of the French team, after a rather mixed first part of the Euro, are preparing for a high-tension reunion with the Belgian selection in the round of 16, Monday July 1 at 6 p.m., in Dusseldorf. Nathalie Iannetta, Xavier Monferran and Jérôme Alonzo take stock of the latest information.

Far from the offensive peaks of previous matches, the attackers of both teams are currently in the doldrums. The French team hopes that this new phase of the competition with these decisive matches will awaken the goal-scoring instincts of Kylian Mbappé, victim of a broken nose during the first match of the competition against Austria, and Antoine Griezmann, unusually clumsy of late.

Behind the scenes, the Blues know it – just like the Belgian devils -: the key could also come at the end of the 90 minutes of regulation time. In other words, Didier Deschamps’ players trained for extra time and even more for the penalty shootout. Which is not without giving some people cold sweats…