Soccer Football - Nations League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Croatia v France - Stadion Poljud, Split, Croatia - March 20, 2025 Croatia's Ivan Perisic scores their second goal REUTERS/Antonio Bronic
SPLIT, Croatia (Reuters) -Croatia's Ante Budimir and Ivan Perisic struck to secure a deserved 2-0 win over France in their Nations League quarter-final, first leg on Thursday, as the return of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele failed to get the visitors to fire.
Croatia also missed an early penalty when Andrej Kramaric’s spot-kick was saved by France goalkeeper Mike Maignan, and the 2023 runners-up were full value for a win that might easily have been achieved by a greater margin.
