France proved to be the favourites for the European Championship, with tactical masters, midfield dominance and Mbappe

How some things in football have changed. Looking back at the 2014 World Cup, when Germany eliminated France in the quarter-finals, Mats Hummels was the only goal scorer in the game. That night, although France dominated the game and created the best chances, the German defender broke the heart of the French team.

Seven years later, in Munich, the German centre-back scored again, this time with his oolong ball, giving France a 1-0 win in the two countries' Euro 2020 opener.

However, some things also remain the same in football. First of all, this 2021 France team looks a lot like the 2018 World Cup winners. The match against Germany is very similar to their victory over Germany in the semi-final against Germany at Euro 2016 in Marseille.

With a 2-0 run this time compared to 2-0 in 2016 and 2018, the French team is tactically and defensively documented (Anthony Griezmann almost finished the game at right-back, which was a compliment to them), controlled the game with a dominant midfielder, as they did in 2018, and striker Killian Mbappe has an ultimate X-factor, who has been tearing Löw's side apart on Tuesday night.

If we don't know what Germany will do before kick-off, we know what France will do. They do exactly as they write on the can. They suffer sometimes, no doubt it's a good German team, but they never collapsed. In fact, none of them look like they're about to break. World champions are like predators waiting for prey, and as we've seen over the past few years, predators know when to attack.

"It was such a strong performance," Didier Deschamps said after the game. "We tried. We could have done better with the ball in our accumulation, but it was a very solid display. After the match, Deschamps was ecstatic in the dressing room, warmly congratulating his players on their impressive victory, which would make France a bigger favourite to win this World Cup.

When you have a midfield like France, it's very easy to perform like that. There's a lot of talk about France's top three, Mbappe, Karim Benzema and Griezmann, and that's a no-brainer for any defence. But what about the Paulo Boba-Ngolo Kante-Adrian Rabio trio? So far, there is no better midfielder than him. Everything they do is well done, complements each other well, and each plays their part perfectly.

France also received great help from Germany. Deschamps wanted Loew to let Kimmich play as a right winger instead of midfield, as it would be easier for his players to control the game. The French can't believe that the best possession midfielder in the world can't play for his country at the European Cup!

So the midfield belongs to France, and that's where they won this game. Kanter is everywhere again. Rabiot is so tactically astute and clever, so precious under pressure. Then there's Pogba. This is the classic Pogba, the 2018 Pogba, or even better Pogba. What a wonderful performance.

"It was a powerful collective victory. We are so focused and efficient. We all work hard for each other. We were humble on the pitch and we suffered together. The United star appeared to have been bitten in the back by defender Rudiger at the end of the first half, complaining to the referee.

Pogba is a well-deserved player of the game, not just because of his outstanding performance in goals. So far, we've seen great moments at this World Cup – England midfielder Calvin Phillips assisted on Raheem Sterling's goal, Czech midfielder Schick scored a fantastic goal against Scotland – and we've now seen Pogba do great in the World Cup. It was an incredibly inspirational and genius moment, with Lucas Hernandez turning from right to left from the top of his foot and half foot out, before his cross was blocked by Hummels. It was part of Pogba's full performance, where he received the ball 12 times, won 13 games, committed four fouls, was deprived of an assist for offside, and was later awarded a "hockey assist" before scoring for Offside Karim Benzema.

Kimmich played mbappe the entire game. The Frenchman was at his best, though with just 35 touches, the lowest of the 22 starters. If you think the incident with Olivier Giroud will affect him, we see tonight that the answer is clearly no. His aggressive running behind Hummels is a big reason for the oolong ball; He then scored a brilliant goal, but was ruled offside, then he was offside again, this time with the smallest gap to create a goal for Benzema, but was ruled by the referee to be offside invalid. That's not counting the goal he scored when Rabio, who hit the post. Or he could take penalties on other occasions.

In 2016 and 2018, France started slowly, against Romania and Australia respectively. This time, they've taken the initiative and are impressive, but there are still a few things to do.

"Tactical discipline is very important in a game like this. We were too strong tactically tonight – we were great. Rabio said. We are happy. We were the last team to play and we had to send a message to the other teams. We have to prove without reason that we are not world champions. ”

Tonight, the message was received loud and clear.