Croatia beats France 2-0 in Nations League quarterfinals to spoil Mbappé’s return

Croatia contained the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé in a 2-0 victory over France in the first leg of the Nations League quarterfinals Thursday.

Ante Budimir headed Croatia ahead in the 26th minute off a cross from Ivan Perišić with France goalkeeper Mike Maignan partially blocking the ball before it crossed the line.

Perišić doubled the advantage in first-half stoppage time in Split to spoil Mbappé’s return after a six-month absence from the national team.

Andrej Kramarić’s penalty in the eighth minute was saved by Maignan, who dived to the right but used his feet to make the stop.

Mbappé tested Dominik Livaković with several shots in the first half but the Croatia goalkeeper produced some decent saves to deny him. Both Mbappé and Dembélé, the French league’s top scorer for Paris Saint-Germain, have already reached the 30-goal mark overall this season.

Mbappé, the Real Madrid star, captained Les Bleus in what was his first start for the national team since a 3-1 loss to Italy on Sept. 6.

The 26-year-old Mbappé is third on France’s all-time scoring list with 48 goals, but he has found the net in only two of his past 13 international games.

In other first-leg quarterfinal matches, Germany came from behind to beat Italy 2-1, defending champion Spain salvaged a 2-2 draw against the 10-man Netherlands, and Denmark beat Portugal 1-0.

The winners will qualify for the four-team final tournament on June 4-8.

The second-leg matches are scheduled for Sunday.

Germany wins at San Siro

Germany captain Joshua Kimmich set up both German goals in a second-half comeback.

He provided a cross from the right shortly after the interval for Tim Kleindienst to head in an equalizer.

Kimmich provided the same service for Leon Goretzka from the corner in the 76th to score the winner in the 2-1 victory, the first win for Germany in Italy since 1986.

Italy opened the scoring from their first attacking effort in the game. Sandro Tonali connected with a deflected cross from Giacomo Raspadori to score past Germany goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.

“The first half was tough, we barely got into our stride,” Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said. “We adjusted a bit at halftime, and the players who came on did well.”

Without Serie A leading scorer Mateo Retegui, Italy coach Luciano Spalletti turned to Moise Kean, who is second on the Italian league’s scoring chart with 15 goals.

The winner of the tie will host the finals.

Spain gets late goal in draw

Substitute Mikel Merino scored in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 for Spain in Rotterdam. Nine minutes before the end, defender Jorrel Hato received a red card when the Dutch were ahead 2-1. The game was played at the De Kuip stadium, where Spain beat Croatia in the 2023 final.

Spain led 1-0 in the ninth minute after Lamine Yamal seized the ball on the right, passed it to Pedri, who fed Nico Williams in the middle to score the opener.

In the 28th minute, Justin Kluivert set up Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo to equalize with a low shot from the left that went in at the near post.

Tijjani Reijnders put the Netherlands ahead 2-1 only 39 seconds into the second half. The AC Milan player exchanged the ball with Jeremie Frimpong before finding the back of the net with a precise finish from the edge of the area.

Denmark denies Ronaldo

Manchester United players were at the forefront for Denmark.

Substitute Rasmus Højlund broke the deadlock in the 78th.

In the 24th, Christian Eriksen had a chance to put the Danes ahead from the penalty spot, but Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa dived to his right to save the attempt.

The Manchester United midfielder had converted 12 penalties for Denmark and hadn’t missed one since 2016.

Ronaldo extended his record of the number of international appearances to 218 but didn’t add to his record scoring tally of 135 international goals.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer