The UEFA Nations League has absolutely delivered this week, after a brilliant game last night and again tonight, in the pulsating second semifinal, Theo Hernandez struck a 90th-minute winner as France came from two goals down to beat Belgium 3-2 and set up a meeting with Spain in an enthralling game at Juventus Stadium.
Trailing 2-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Yannick Carrasco and Romelu Lukaku, Les Bleus looked down at out at half-time.
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But a rousing comeback performance ensured their place in Sunday’s showpiece final – helping to banish the painful memories of their premature European Championship exit in the process.
Didier Deschamps’ side made a slow start as the lively Kevin De Bruyne fired a warning with just four minutes on the clock, but Hugo Lloris did well to keep out his venomous shot.
However, the France captain was beaten twice in four first-half minutes as the Red Devils clicked into a higher gear.
Lloris was still reeling from being caught out at his near post from Yannick Carrasco’s daisy-cutter when he failed to keep out Lukaku’s tidy effort from the angle.
France played with much more intensity after the restart, and when Kylian Mbappe set up Antoine Griezmann on a plate, you were expecting the net to bulge, but somehow the Atletico Madrid forward failed to apply the finish.
Karim Benzema would make no such mistake moments later as he swivelled to make space for the shot and rifled into the bottom corner to halve the deficit.
Griezmann helped to make amends for his glaring miss by winning a penalty, which was converted by the ice-cool Mbappe as parity was restored.
But the drama was far from over.
With just three minutes remaining, Belgium thought they had won it with a goal against the run of play – but Lukaku was found to be in an offside position by VAR.
And then just moments later, Theo Hernandez hammered home the winner for France – his first goal for his country – to complete a memorable comeback.
