DPA
Berlin
France midfielder Adrien Rabiot praised their Euro 2024 semi-finals opponents Spain, but stressed ahead of Tuesday’s game that they “probably have their weaknesses too.”
“They’ve played the best football at the tournament. They have great wingers and can penetrate the final third. They also know how to score goals. They’re a very complete team who have their strengths, but they probably have their weaknesses too. We’re confident and know what we have to do,” Rabiot said in a news conference on Monday.
Coach Dider Deschamps echoed Rabiot’s words, saying: “They’re the team who have had the best Euros so far. They’ve left the best impression after every game.”
Two-time European champions France, meanwhile, haven’t shown good football in the tournament and are yet to score a goal of their own from open play in 480 minutes. Their three goals to date came from two own goals and a Kylian Mbappé penalty.
Rabiot, however, believes they’ve done “what we needed to get here.”
“The fact that we’re in the semi-finals speaks for itself. We’ve done what we needed to get here. We want to lift the (Euro 2024) trophy after coming so close in 2022,” he said referring to the 2022 World Cup, in which they reached the final, but were defeated on penalties by Argentina.
Deschamps said that France top star Mbappé is fit to play after he was replaced before the end of extra time in last Friday’s quarter-finals against Portugal.
“We knew that extra time (against Portugal) was a little bit hard for him. From a muscular point of view, he’ll definitely be on the pitch.
We wanted him to rest up as much as possible.
“We’ve done everything we could and I’m convinced Kylian is in a good place. He’ll do everything to give 110% tomorrow, as will the rest of the group,” Deschamps said.
