When the world is anxious to listen to the story of the young and promising, Mbappe sees a shadow of his past in Yamal. Just like Messi in 18 years, he became the background board for the future generations at his peak.
Mbappe, who took off the mask to reveal a "delicate" face, once seemed to have lifted the "seal", and in just 8 minutes, he accurately guided and assisted Muani to score with a header. However, when Yamal pulled a perfect arc and the ball hit the woodwork directly into the net, Yamal, who was 16 years and 362 days old, rewrote history and became the youngest player to score in the history of the European Championship. And his shooting posture and his position on goal are very similar to that man.
Yamal's world wave only kicked off Spain's counter-attack, and soon Olmo was in the confusion, easily getting rid of Tchouameni and hitting hard into the middle, where Kounde was unfortunate enough to keep the ball in the back of the net.
However, just when you think that a wonderful offensive battle is about to enter the climax, all the wonderful pictures of this game come to an end; The two sides maintained the score from 2-1 to the end of the game from 24 minutes.
So why was it that France, who had taken the lead early, were quickly overtaken and eventually lost?
In this game, the French team lost in the midfield, and lost in the waist.
If we break down the starting 11 of the two sides into a 1-on-1 comparison, there is only one position in which Spain has a clear advantage, and that is that Rodri is significantly more capable than Tchouameni. And this has also become the winner or loser of the game.
Tchouameni's form can only be described as extremely bad, with the defence out of position and the penalty area being crossed. The two goals conceded by the French team are directly related to him.
On the other hand, Rodri, when he blocked Mbappe's line again and again, causing the French team's attack to have to play more on Dembele's side before Baltra came on; He protected Keylor Navas, who was 38 years old and received an early yellow card. After both sides made adjustments, he also protected Nacho and withstood Bartra's continuous onslaught.
On the other hand, on the offensive end, Rodri used to respond again and again, delivered again and again, became the metronome of the team, and instigated the goal of overtaking the score.
Driven by Rodri, the Spanish dance music could not stop at all, which made the French team extremely passive, and the French team responded in a timely manner in the second half; Kante was on the premise of keeping an eye on Rodri, and it worked. When Rodri's role in attacking organization was limited for a while, it was like turning off the gramophone switch, forcing the Spanish dance music to stop, so that the French team could continue to press the attack in the second half.
They lack creative players and are not as skilled as Spain.
In the face of Spain's deep retreat, France had no shortage of crosses. However, neither Muani nor Mbappe were good at headers, and Didier Deschamps finally brought on Olivier Giroud in the 78th minute.
Unfortunately, Giroud went up and not only did France fail to provide high-quality crosses, but he also let Giroud rush behind them, and the French spent the last 15 minutes of the game in a somewhat inexplicable way.
When it comes to fighting for your life, you don't see any signs of fighting for the French team. And after Deschamps replaced N'Golo Kante, Rodri was liberated again, which was a huge failure.
They have scored 13 goals in this tournament, equalling the record set by themselves in the previous edition. Compared to Enrique's team, it seems too inkblob, only short and not long; Today's Spain can be fast or slow, long or short, side or medium; After a decade of decline, the performance of Linker Germany and France proves that from the summer of 2024, the Spanish team will be the favorite to win the tournament in the next few years.
As the favorite to win the European Cup, Spain, which played three main players, was finally humiliated out of the game in a humiliating way that the opponent couldn't grab the ball for a while, and the reason is that the French team is a team with no routines, no rules, and no technical and tactical content.
It has to do with the composition of the team, since Pogba left the French team, their midfield lacked control and creativity; Antoine Griezmann's performance at the World Cup in Qatar is more like a "return to the past", and he is now playing more side effects on the field. The midfielders of the other French teams are basically sappers; can fight, run, and defend, but there is no offensive organization. This led to the French team's game mode, which became a group of black and hard people with better bodies than the opponent, to fight with each other; The rhythm of the game they are accustomed to is to use the super personal ability of the frontcourt players to rush the opponent to lose their rhythm.
But in front of Spain, which showed super control, the French team was black and hard, and they had to accept that they would not even be able to grab the ball.
It has been three years since Pogba left the French team, but at the same time, who will replace the vacated position of Pogba has not been resolved, and the problem of insufficient organization and control in the midfield of the French team has been completely uncovered by Mbappe's sluggish state and Griezmann's decline.
For France, their players have a super strong personalityFor Didier Deschamps, on the road to the 2026 World Cup, his focus in the next two years is to find a central playmaker for the French team, and he must clarify who the metronome of this team is.
Of course, France are out and Bellingham will probably be very happy. Because Mbappe has lost his last chance to compete for the Ballon d'Or; Bellingham's chances of winning the Ballon d'Or have increased dramatically, which will also give him a head start in Real Madrid's race for the crown.
And his only remaining opponent in the Ballon d'Or selection will become the biggest favorite for the MVP of this European Cup, Rodri!