The best attack against the best defense. History says that every time Spain and France have faced each other in a Euro Cup qualifier, the winner has been proclaimed champion. Will it be repeated? Here are the bets and records up for grabs ahead of the 9pm kick-off in Munich.
The Euro 2024 offers another epic duel on Tuesday, when Spain and France They face each other in Munich at 9:00 p.m. for a place in the final.
The march to Berlin faces the best defense of Euro 2024 with the best attack. Spain has scored 11 goalsmore than anyone else, while France has only conceded one in five games. The Spanish should be the favorites, since they arrive in Munich after beat all the teams that come your way.
They came first in a group to the death with Italy and Croatiaand then They beat Germany 2-1 in a last-minute quarter-final, marred however by the controversy over penalties against the hosts.
France has not been so convincing. He failed to score a single goal from open play throughout the tournament, won the round of 16 against Belgium thanks to an own goal, and then resorted to a dramatic penalty shootout to see off Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
Who has the best historical record?
The confrontations between France and Spain have always worked decisive in the history of the Euro Cups.
Every time the two teams met in a knockout, the winner went on to lift the trophy.. It already happened in 1984 (France), 2000 (France) and 2012 (Spain).
In general, France has a better record in major tournamentsincluding the World Cup, with three victories against one for Spain and a draw.
Experts, betting houses and algorithms (cautiously) place Spain ahead
Spain has a slight advantage over France. With a streak of five consecutive victories, the highest number of goals for and only two against, nothing seems capable of stopping De La Fuente’s team. The scoring problems and France’s lack of brilliance also points in that direction.
But Spain’s occasional problems converting possession into goals could prove problematic, especially against an experienced and defensively solid team like Francewhich can also count on the speed of Ousmane Dembélé, Kylian Mbappé and Eduardo Camaving to open spaces for the counter.
Most forecasts reflect this, since Spain remains the favorite, but not by an overwhelming margin. In addition, Google’s prediction places Spain ahead with a 36% chance of winning compared to 31% for France, with a 33% chance of a tie in the 90 minutes.
He Opta algorithm predicts even more uncertainty. Spain has a 49.7% chance of reaching the final compared to France’s 50.21%, head to head. Another factor that points to uncertainty is that Spain will play without Pedri, injured, and Carvajal, suspended.
Fofana refutes criticism, Cucurella warns of France’s speed
Marc Cucurella has been one of Spain’s best players in Euro 2024, running the a whopping 44 kilometers on the side with a top speed of more than 33 km/h.
However, the Chelsea left back assures that Containing France’s best sprinters will not be an easy task.
“Have very fast players up front. “They want to exploit that, and I think the game will consist of being very focused for 90 minutes or however long the game lasts.”
“I think if we’re careful about that. If we get the ball back quickly when we lose it, then I think we have a good chance“he declared on Sunday.
On the French side, Youssouf Fofana responded to the criticism received by the team by saying: “I don’t care about them.”
He also called on all French media to support Les Bleus. “In the end, we are semi-finalists after Kylian’s level [Mbappé] y Antoine [Griezmann] it was enough for us to reach the semi-finals“.
“I don’t know why we would look for that ‘plus’ now that we are among the last four, and now we all have to go together, including the media especially the Frenchin the right direction to lift this trophy, and Don’t say a guy is underperforming or that the style of play is not pretty because in the end it is enough.”
ADVERTISINGRecords at stake: Fourth Euro title and longest winning streak
A victory would put Spain centimeters from his fourth European titleto become the most successful team in the history of the Euro Cup. They currently share the record with Germany, with three cups each.
If Spain defeats France, it will also become the first team to win six consecutive games in the same European Championship.
For its part, France, by eliminating the Spanish, could aspire to its third European title, to become the most successful nation along with Spain and Germany.
