NGolo Kante scores for France against Portugal
France handed defending UEFA Nations League champions Portugal a rare defeat on Saturday, winning 1-0 in Lisbon.
NGolo Kantes second half strike helped the world champions to reach the competitions final four at the expense of the holders.
Anthony Martial missed three clear-cut first half chances for France beforeKante scored only his second international goal in the 54th minute.
It was his first since 2016, and it helped to end Portugals run of five successive clean sheets.
World champions France went top of Group A3 with 13 points from five games, three ahead of Portugal and with the better head-to-head record to give them an unassailable lead.
It was only Portugals second defeat since the 2018 World Cup.
Given the quality of the opposition, its of course one of our best performances of recent times, France coach Didier Deschamps said of Portugal, who are the European champions.
We deserved the win and weve fulfilled our objective of finishing top. Im very proud of the players.They proved tonight that France are still a great team.
Antoine Griezmann set up Martials first chance in the 12th minute with a slide-rule pass but Portugals excellent goalkeeper Rui Patricio blocked it at point-blank range.
Martial then diverted Adrien Rabiots acrobatic effort onto the bar with his head and saw another effort brilliantly saved at close range by Patricio from Lucas Hernandezs cross.
At the other end, Cristiano Ronaldo forced a diving save from France captain Hugo Lloris and also wasted a free-kick which he drove straight into the wall.
France finally broke through just as Portugal appeared to be imposing themselves.
Griezmann slipped another ball through to Rabiot whose shot was parried by Patricio and Kante was on hand to score from the rebound.
Portugal had three chances go begging in the same attack, including a Jose Fonte header against the post.
Lloris made a one-handed save to parry a raking drive from Joao Moutinho, who then saw his cross evade three forwards as France held out.
I dont know what went wrong in the first half, it wasnt what I expected but it was my responsibility, said Portugal coach Fernando Santos.
We were better in the second half but then conceded the goal which settled the game we had three or four chances to equalise. (Reuters/NAN)
Source: NAN News