UEFA Nations League: France stunned by Denmark; assistant boss blames lack of sharpness

Defending champion France was stunned by Denmark 1-2 in the UEFA Nations League 2022-23 on Friday. Meanwhile, France assistant boss Guy Stephan has blamed the team's lack of sharpness.

It was a nervy start for defending champion France in its Group A opening round fixture of the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League (UNL). Played at the Stade de France in Paris on Friday, the hosts succumbed to a 1-2 defeat. It happened to be its first 90-minute defeat at home since March 2013, when it had lost 0-1 to Spain. It was also its first defeat in four years after taking the lead, while it had last lost similarly to Colombia 2-3 in a friendly. In the meantime, French assistant manager Guy Stephan was visibly frustrated with his side's lack of top performance and blamed the lack of sharpness for the defeat.

As for the game, while it was locked goalless at half-time, Karim Benzema gave France the lead in the 51st, thanks to Christopher Nkunku's assist. Andreas Cornelius's equaliser was followed 13 minutes later after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg's assist. At the same time, he scored his brace in the 88th through Joakim Mæhle's assist, which eventually became the winner.

After the loss, Stephan told M6, "We knew that Denmark was a good team with a perfect structure. "Without looking for an excuse, we're coming to the season-end where the players played a lot. I have nothing to blame them for. It was a match between two good teams. We had some good spells and some less good spells. We just needed some freshness to be able to express ourselves, and we didn't have that today."

On the other hand, France's goalkeeper Hugo Lloris told the same publication, "There are never good times to suffer defeats. There's still a long time to go until the World Cup, though it's never good to start a campaign with a defeat. We fell against a good, well-organised team. At 1-0, we had chances for a second, but we were so committed to the attack that there were also risks that Denmark exploited."