It took nine minutes for Antoine Griezmann to take the first shot and by half-time the totals read 9-1 but that opening effort was weak and what followed wasn’t very much better. Occasionally, there would be a neat exchange, a dash beyond the marker, and there were a couple of headers at the near post from Marcus Thuram. Aurélien Tchouaméni fired over and Kylian Mbappé bundled through on the left. But it was all a bit slow and uninspiring – it’s not like there was that much noise from the stands either, some sense of the grand occasion – and Casteels didn’t have a real save to make.
At the other end, Maignan did, although it was only once. Belgium appeared more or less at ease with this and why not? On those few occasions when they did run, things opened a little before them, Jérémy Doku and Yannick Carrasco leading the way. There was also a lovely sharp turn into the area by Loïs Openda which left Carrasco with a chance from which he might have done better. From one of those Doku runs, they won a free-kick from which De Bruyne curled in a shot that, hidden by the bodies standing before him, almost caught out the French goalkeeper. He just about managed to kick away while falling backwards.
