LEIPZIG, Germany — Kylian Mbappé watched from the substitutes’ bench as France and the Netherlands finished 0-0 in a heavyweight European Championship clash Friday.
Antoine Griezmann missed France’s best chances while Xavi Simons had a goal ruled out for the Dutch in the first goalless draw of the tournament.
It leaves both teams on four points in Group D after their second match. It also ensured Poland was the first team eliminated. Poland was beaten by Austria 3-1 earlier Friday and is assured of finishing bottom of the group, even if it beats France in its final group game.
France’s buildup was dominated by speculation on whether Mbappé would play after the team captain broke his nose in their opening 1-0 win over Austria.
Mbappé trained wearing a face mask on Thursday and coach Didier Deschamps was optimistic he’d be available. But Deschamps evidently decided it was not worth the risk to play Mbappé in a game his team had no need to win.
“Kylian is doing well. He’s getting better with each day. If it was a decisive game I would have thought twice about him playing,” Deschamps acknowledged. “It’s a risk for him. With each day that that passes, we are getting to a point where it’s better for him. I thought the wiser decision was to keep him on the bench.”
France enjoyed its best period of pressure after the break, when Aurélien Tchouaméni headed over, goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen denied Griezmann from close range, and Ousmane Dembélé went close.
Then Xavi fired the ball in at the other end in the 69th on a rebound after Mike Maignan saved Memphis Depay’s effort. It set off wild Dutch celebrations that sent beer cups and their contents flying into the Leipzig sky. But the fans’ elation was quickly deflated because Denzel Dumfries, who was offside, was adjudged after a lengthy VAR check to have obstructed Maignan from attempting to save Xavi’s shot.
Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman thought otherwise and felt the goal should have been allowed.
Griezmann had the best of France’s early chances, forcing a save from Verbruggen before he and Adrien Rabiot somehow contrived to miss when it seemed easier to score. Rabiot had only the goalkeeper to beat but he attempted a pass instead to Griezmann, who fell over trying to hit it from close range.
The French team, which needed an own goal to beat Austria, has yet to score at Euro 2024.
“We weren’t efficient enough. We had five or six goal-scoring opportunities and we weren’t able to find the back of the net, and if we’re not able to find the back of the next, we’re not walking away with three points,” Deschamps said. “I’m happy despite the fact we weren’t efficient enough.”
The Dutch fans outnumbered their French counterparts. Thousands of orange-clad fans brightened Leipzig’s city center earlier, though the French fans in blue were in no way discouraged from creating their own party.
One French supporter brought a live rooster to the stadium on the eve of the match. It was unclear if the animal had a ticket for the game.
Austria 3, Poland 1
Austria boosted its last-16 hopes at the European Championship by defeating Poland 3-1 on Friday in Berlin and eliminating the Poles in the group stage.
Gernot Trauner, Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic scored for Austria while Krzysztof Piatek had Poland’s first-half equalizer.
Robert Lewandowski, who missed Poland’s first match against the Netherlands due to an injury, came on in the second half but failed to make an impact, and was booked after just five minutes on the pitch.
“We are depressed by this result but we still have one more game in our group and we need to put our best foot forward and try to win three points,” Lewandowski told Poland’s TVP Sport.
Poland’s slim chance of surviving the group stage disappeared hours later when the Netherlands and France drew 0-0, which ensured the Poles will finish last in Group D with one match remaining.
Austria, fresh off losing to France, came out blazing and took the lead within 10 minutes when Trauner headed in a cross from Philipp Mwene.
The Poles clawed their way back and leveled just before the half-hour mark, with Piatek slotting in a rebound from close range.
Polish fans roared as their record goal-scorer Lewandowski rose from the bench 15 minutes into the second half to make his Euro 2024 debut, replacing Adam Buksa in the attack.
However, the captain had a disappointing evening in Berlin. He received a yellow card almost immediately after a tough challenge on Philipp Lienhart and saw Austria regain the lead two minutes later when Baumgartner picked up an excellent pass from Alexander Prass to make it 2-1.
This time Poland didn’t have the energy to reply.
Arnautovic sealed the win for Austria from the penalty spot after Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny brought down Marcel Sabitzer in the penalty area in the 77th.
Baumgartner said the team felt the pressure after the opening loss against France, which snapped a seven-game unbeaten streak for Austria.
“To be honest there was a lot of pressure on us,” Baumgartner said. “We are really relieved. “
Lewandowski damaged a thigh muscle in a pre-tournament warmup and sat out Poland’s first match at the Euros. He wasn’t in the starting lineup against Austria but said on Friday he was okay and, “I feel no pain at all.”
Coach Michal Probierz said he sent on Lewandowski in an attempt to regain momentum with the score 1-1.
“We wanted to break through the Austrian defense in the second half. It’s a pity that we didn’t score a winner first,” Probierz said.
Austria, after a loss and a win, next faces the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Ukraine 2, Slovakia 1
After being blown out by Romania 3-0 in its first match, Ukraine conceded the opening goal to Slovakia on Friday but fought back for a much-needed 2-1 win, prompting emotional scenes with their fans afterward in Duesseldorf, Germany.
“Our mental strength was shown to the best of our ability on the pitch,” midfielder Mykola Shaparenko said through a translator after scoring one goal and setting up another.
Ukraine’s first comeback win in the Euros in 12 years was also their third comeback win in four competitive games this year. More importantly, the Ukrainians remained in contention for the last 16 after substitute Roman Yaremchuk’s goal sealed the win.
Showing that Ukraine can fight, overcome obstacles and win “is exactly what Ukraine’s National Football Team is doing today,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media after the game.
After two 2-1 comeback wins in the playoffs in March to reach Euro 2024, Ukraine result against Slovakia by the same score has revived the team’s campaign. The next aim is reaching the knockout stages in the first major tournament for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022. That is likely to require at least a draw against Belgium on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s poor goal difference following a 3-0 loss to Romania on Monday meant another defeat would have put it on the brink of elimination.
“Today, it was a different spirit,” coach Serhiy Rebrov said. “It was a very important win for our country, for Ukraine, for our fathers, for our supporters, and I’m sure today they were proud of the players.”
Slovakia is level with Ukraine and Romania on three points in Group E. Romania and Belgium meet on Saturday.
Rebrov made four changes to the team after the Romania loss but the same fragility in defense remained — at least to begin with.
Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, in for Andriy Lunin after errors against Romania, made a series of saves early on but could do nothing to stop the opening goal.
Ivan Schranz, who also scored the only goal in the surprise 1-0 win over Belgium four days ago, was left free at the far post when his marker Oleksandr Zinchenko jumped to intercept a cross which flew over his head.
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Zinchenko was at fault for the first goal but pivotal to the second, overlapping on the left flank to receive the ball and cross low for Shaparenko, who found space to score his first international goal in nearly three years.
Bringing Yaremchuk off the bench to replace the mostly ineffective Artem Dovbyk changed the game again as he surged past the Slovakian defense to score the winner.
Slovakia is fighting to prevent a repeat of the 2021 Euros, where it won its first game but lost the next two and was eliminated in the group stage on goal difference. It may have to play its next game against Romania on Wednesday without defender David Hancko, who injured his hamstring, coach Francesco Calzona said.