France’s finishing problems could not be concealed by KYLIAN MBAPPE.
Although he scored his first goal at a European Championship from the penalty spot, the superstar was unable to lead his team to the convincing victory they deserved as Poland held them to a draw.
Kylian Mbappe scored from the spot
He sent Lukasz Skorupski the wrong way
The French place second in Group D after Robert Lewandowski’s own spot kιck gave them a point.
They are now drawn into the same side of the draw as Germany, Portugal, and Spain, and this is the first major tournament since 2012 that they have not won their group.
In the event that they get past the Round of 16, they will probably face Portugal in the quarterfinals and either Germany or Spain in the semifinals.
Despite Mbappe’s skill and abundance of creations, France was unable to convert the opportunities they produced.
Marcus Thuram was replaced by the returning French captain, Bradley Barcola of Paris Saint-Germain, who was starting for the first time for France, in place of Antoine Griezmann, who was guilty of squandering the two finest chances on Friday.
Despite being eliminated beforehand, Poland managed to include Lewandowski in the starting lineup for the first time in Germany.
Les Bleus began knowing they had already advanced to the round of 16. This was true even though they had not scored a goal of their own in the two games played thus far—the winning goal against Austria was an own goal.
After the national anthems, a horde of photographers waited to catch a shot of Mbappe wearing his mask in the hopes that he would improve his performance in front of goal.
Theo Hernandez and Ousmane Dembele had early chances, both sent straight at the goalkeeper, but so did Poland.
Piotr Zielinski and Kacper Urbanski both tested Mike Maignan before Lewandowski, back at the ground where he spent four years as a player a decade ago, sent a free header wide.
Mbappe had been quiet early on, but was picking his moments – just as he always does.
He should have been allowed to run free down the left after being pulled back by Nicola Zalewski, but ref Marco Guida did not play advantage.
The talisman was also twice denied by Polish keeper Lukasz Skorupski, both attempts teed up by Barcola before the break.
Having come into the game late in the first half, Mbappe tried to take the initiative from the restart.
In the space of a minute he sent one effort over the bar with his left, drew a diving saving with his right before rolling another just wide of the far post.
While Mbappe was taking centre stage, he still needed teammate Dembele to win him a spot kιck to get his goal.