‘We lacked freshness’

Substitute Andreas Cornelius scored twice as Denmark recovered from conceding to a brilliant Karim Benzema goal to beat France 21 on Friday in the UEFA Nations League at the Stade de France the first match at the venue since the chaos that marred last weekendrsquos Champions League finalBenzemarsquos stunning strike put World Cup holders France in front six minutes after halftime only for Trabzonspor striker Cornelius to turn in Denmarkrsquos equaliser midway through the second half and then smash in an 88thminute winnerMbappe Varane come offThat meant it was a disappointing night for France who saw both Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane come off injuredldquoWe have players who have played a lot of games this season and we clearly lacked freshnessrdquo said France assistant coach Guy Stephan who added that Mbappe was struggling with a knee knock and Varane had a hamstring problemGuy StephanThere was a nearfull house of 75833 inside the Stade de France including 1400 Danish supporters but the atmosphere outside the ground ahead of kickoff was calmThat was in stark contrast to the scenes six days earlier when serious organisational problems led to fans being unable to get into the stadium while many peaceful supporters were teargassed ahead of Real Madridrsquos 10 win over LiverpoolBecause of the pandemic Fridayrsquos match was the first France national football team game at the stadium without crowd restrictions since November 2019Home supporters were hoping to see Les Bleus start with a victory as they defend the Nations League title they won last year by beating Spain in the finalThis was the first of four matches they will play this month in League A Group 1 before their players can depart on holiday and the game did not really come to life in the first halfFrance whose coach Didier Deschamps was absent following the death of his father were dealt a blow when Paris SaintGermain star Mbappe pulled up just before the intervalHe did not reappear after the break with Christopher Nkunku taking his place and the RB Leipzig forward played a part in the opening goal in the 51st minuteBenzema on the same ground where he won the Champions League last weekend collected the ball on the right played a onetwo with Nkunku and left the Danish defence for dead before slotting in on the occasion of his 95th capManchester United centreback Varane then also hobbled off with William Saliba replacing him and Denmark capitalised as they turned the match on its headlsquoFrance is the best teamrsquoldquoFrance is probably the best team when you look at the names and quality of their playersrdquo admitted Danish coach Kasper HjulmandldquoI have heard a lot of people back home in Denmark are out on the streets celebrating and that is just great I am very happy for Danish football tonightrdquoThe result is a warning for France who will be in the same group as Denmark at the World Cup later this year The sides will be in Nations League action again on Monday with France away to Croatia and Denmark in AustriaNetherlands thump BelgiumCroatia suffered a 30 home defeat by Austria on Friday with Marko Arnautovic Michael Gregoritsch and Marcel Sabitzer all scoring Meanwhile the Netherlands romped to a 41 win over neighbours Belgium in Brussels in League A Group 4Steven Bergwijn gave the Dutch the lead before Memphis Depay netted a secondhalf brace either side of a Denzel Dumfries goal Michy Batshuayi pulled one back late on for BelgiumThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever