On Thursday, Croatia came out on top with a 2-0 win over France in the first of two Nations League quarter-final matches at Estádio Arcedo in Split, Goals from Ante Budimir and Ivan Perisic.
France, who were without Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembélé, did not fare too well
Croatia were in the ascendancy against France and got their advantage shortly after the break with the hosts taking an early penalty when Andrej Kramaric (2023 runners-up)won another by pulling sharply to the right
France created more chances to score and got several shots on target against Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, but the performance was far from great. It was a miserable night to return the world’s best player, who last played in his team for four games.
The second leg will be in Paris on Sunday. The semi-finalists of this tie will play either defending champs Spain or Netherlands in the semis in June.
