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Most pundits will agree that Spain has been the most impressive team in Euro ’24 and the fact that they beat the hosts after extra time shows that they have the bottle to fight to the very end of every match they play.
The style and flair of the Spanish team are epitomised by their young winger, Lamine Yamal, who, at sixteen years old, shows no fear, demonstrating exceptional skill and maturity beyond his years.
As for France, very much like England, they have not done much to impress, scoring only three goals on their way to the Semi-final, but the response of their manager, Didier Deschamps, to the complainers, has simply been, ‘If you don’t like it, don’t watch’ and that just about sums up the arrogance of the French team.
Whether that arrogance will be enough to get them to the final is another matter!
Odds and Predictions
The bookies see this as a pretty even match: Spain are the 2.62 favourites, the odds on France are 3.10 and the draw is available at 2.87.
As you would expect at this stage of the competition, this is a match between two of the giants of European football, with each team full of players who are at the top of their game.
We think this is going to be a tight match so the first of our predictions is going to be a draw at 2.87 with a correct score of 1 – 1.
Odds of 6.0 for that scoreline is not overly generous, but we are happy to take it.
For the last of our tips, we are looking at the ‘Player to be Booked’ market and, in particular, Rodri at 3.75.
This game will be won or lost in midfield and we expect the highly influential Rodri to be cautioned at some point.
Comparison and Statistics from Past Meetings between the Teams
Spain and France have played against each other a total of 35 times in their football history.
Spain leads the head-to-head record with sixteen wins, France has won twelve times, and seven matches have ended in a draw.
The last five H2H matches between the two teams are listed below.
| Past Meetings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Oct 2021 | spain | 1-2 | france | UEFA Nations League Final |
| 28 Mar 2017 | france | 0-0 | spain | Friendly Game |
| 04 Sep 2014 | france | 1-0 | spain | Friendly Game |
| 26 Mar 2013 | france | 2-0 | spain | World Cup Qualification |
| 16 Oct 2012 | spain | 0-2 | france | World Cup Qualification |
Expected Line Ups
There must have been a relief in the Spanish camp when, after much confusion, it was revealed that their captain, Álvaro Morata, did not receive a yellow card in the Quarter-final match against Germany, so he will not be suspended for this match.
For France, it would seem that the broken nose suffered by Kylian Mbappé has been causing him all sorts of problems and even his protective mask couldn’t protect him from a further knock against Portugal, which meant he had to be substituted.
He is expected to start in this match, though.
Spain (4-3-3): Unai Simón; Dani Carvajal, Robin Le Normand, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Pedri, Rodri Hernández, Fabián Ruiz; Lamine Yamal, Álvaro Morata, Nico Williams.
France (4-3-3): Mike Maignan; Jules Koundé, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; N’Golo Kanté, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga; Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé, Randal Kolo Muani.
How Far Will These Teams Progress in the Tournament?
This will be a close match and could go either way, but we expect France to clinch a place in the final after extra time.
With Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé and Randal Kolo Muani up front and N’Golo Kanté beavering away in midfield, we feel that they will prove too strong for a Spanish side that were starting to look a little overstretched in their match against Germany.
