Mbappé sprints away from Trauner and helps the French to a point, Croatia brings back tension with victory in Denmark | Foreign football

France must prevent it from finishing fourth in the group in the last three matches and therefore being relegated to League B of the Nations League. The team of national coach Didier Deschamps will play against Croatia on Monday evening in the Stade de France. Deschamps opted again tonight to let Mbappe start on the bench, after the star striker of Paris Saint-Germain had already sat next to Karim Benzema for 90 minutes on Monday evening in Split, where France drew 1-1 against Croatia.

Benzema was back in the starting lineup tonight, but it was Austria that took the lead after 37 minutes. After sloppy ball loss in midfield, the ball came through Marko Arnautovic (101 international matches) and Konrad Laimer to striker Andreas Weimann, who scored his first international goal in his eighteenth international match: 0-1.

France didn’t really get through in the second half either, so Mbappe came on in the 63rd minute, replacing the invisible Antoine Griezmann. Feyenoord defender Gernot Trauner played a solid game in his seventh international match for Austria, but in the 83rd minute Mbappe sprinted away from him after a pass from Christopher Nkunku and then shot in the bottom of the bar for 1-1. Mbappé also seemed to make the 1-2 three minutes later, but through the Austrian keeper Patrick Pentz (seven saves) the ball went against the bar and so it remained a draw in the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, where the ventilation was fortunately worked immediately and the mysterious hole in the center circle was closed again.

Mbappe indicated after the game that he is still suffering from an injury, but said he will be there against Croatia if necessary. ,,This was not the result we came for, but we will take this point and try to win on Monday’, Mbappé looked ahead. He admitted he was still troubled by the left knee injury he sustained in the game against Denmark, which left him playing only the first half. ,,I’m not 100 percent fit yet, but I will play if I have to. If the coach needs me, I’ll be there. It’s the last game before the holidays, so I can force it a bit.”

Croatia beat Denmark 0-1 at the Parken stadium in Copenhagen, where the Croats provided a huge spectacle on June 28 last year in the eighth final against Spain (3-5 defeat after extra time) at the European Championship. Tonight there was no new spectacle, but substitute Luka Modric gave the game a little more life after the break. In his 151st international match for Croatia, he co-founded Mario Pasalic’s winning goal with Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozovic. The Atalanta attacking midfielder got to the ball in the 69th minute ahead of Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who had once again handed his captaincy to Christian Eriksen. Schmeichel was still important earlier in the game with saves on a header by Andre Kramaric and a shot by Modric, but Denmark lost and the tension in this group is back again.

League A, group 1
Austria – France 1-1
Denmark – Croatia 0-1

Standings in the group:
1. Denmark 3 – 6
2. Austria 3 – 4
3. Croatia 3 – 4
4. France 3 – 2

League B, group 2
Albania – Israel 1-2

League C, group 3
Azerbaijan – Slovakia 0-1
Belarus – Kazakhstan 1-1

League D, group 1
Moldova – Latvia 2-4
Andorra – Liechtenstein 2-1