Mats Hummels was enough to give France a 1-0 victory over Germany. COURTESY
An own goal by Mats Hummels was enough to give France a 1-0 victory over Germany in their opening Euro 2020 Group F match on Tuesday as the sluggish-looking hosts lost their opening fixture at the European Championship for the first time.
The world champions took the lead in the 20th minute when midfielder Paul Pogba's superb raking pass was fired back across the goal by Lucas Hernandez and defender Hummels shanked the ball into his own net as he tried to clear. France's Adrien Rabiot struck the outside of the post early in the second half and Kylian Mbappe had a superb finish ruled out for offside, while Germany's misfiring attack struggled to get shots on target as they vainly chased an equaliser. Mbappe was denied what looked to be a certain penalty after out-sprinting Hummels to chase down a long ball in the 78th minute and the French were denied once again when Karim Benzema's late effort was ruled out for offside. The win puts France second in Group F behind holders Portugal, who beat Hungary 3-0 earlier on Tuesday.
At one point in the first half in Munich, as Paul Pogba glided around the pitch pinging and flicking and drifting the ball into strange, unexpected spaces, freezing the action around him with a touch, Antonio Rüdiger threw his arms around his chest, leant closer and seemed to take a nibble of Pogba’s shoulder. Maybe it was just a sniff or a lick. And really, you sympathised with Rüdiger. In moments like these Pogba does seem to be some more-ish, liquid footballing substance. It was quite delicious. In those opening 45 minutes Pogba moved around the pitch like a champion in a team of champions. And over the course of this 1-0 victory France were good in the way France are good, reeling off another sleek, unruffled tournament performance against a Germany team that was almost always held at arm’s length. In the middle of this Pogba was the free element, the grace note, and no doubt a source of frustration for some who will wonder, a little unfairly, how a player this brilliant isn’t this brilliant all the time, instead of saving it for stages like these.
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