France took on Ukraine on Sunday night with a spot in the U21 Euros semi-finals up for grabs. On the back of a perfect record in the group stage, Les Bleuets manager Sylvain Ripoll gave the nod to his red-hot attacking trio of Lyon academy products composed of Rayan Cherki, Amine Gouiri and Bradley Barcola. Meanwhile, Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk started for Ukraine. France started with energy and poise, but Ukraine shot-stopper Anatoliy Trubin was alert to thwart early attempts by Barcola and Cherki.
The pair wasted no time in making amends. The excellent Enzo Le Fée fed Barcola with an inch-perfect through ball. The Lyon winger then found his club teammate Cherki, who sold the Ukrainians a dummy before lashing it home emphatically – a terrific team move. Dmytro Kryskiv thought he had immediately restored parity, but he was ruled offside. France eventually came undone though, with Pierre Kalulu stopping Mudryk in his stride inside the penalty box. Georgiy Sudakov equalised from the spot.
In an open and captivating first half, Barcola went close to restoring France’s advantage with an inspired curling effort that ricocheted off the post. Only minutes from half-time, Mudryk found a gaping hole in France’s defence and pinged a perfect ball for Sudakov to run onto. The forward rounded Chevalier to give Ukraine the lead. For the first time in the tournament, France were behind. Les Bleuets dominated proceedings in the second half but Ukraine set their defence up perfectly – so much so that Trubin was mostly undisturbed.
In the end, a disjointed France side could not break through. Susbtitute Elye Wahi did find the back of the net ten minutes from time, but he was flagged offside. To make matters worse, Bondarenko doubled Ukraine’s lead to put the game to bed thanks to a solo effort. A defiant and efficient Ukraine will face Spain in the semi-finals. Despite the abundance of talent on paper, France are out of the U21 Euros, and it’s not the first time Les Bleuets have fallen too early in a competition. Questions will now need to be asked as to whether Ripoll is the right man to lead France at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games’s football tournament.
France player ratings
Lucas Chevalier, 4
Pierre Kalulu, 4
Mohamed Simakan, 4
Castello Lukeba, 3
Niels Nkounkou, 3 – The former Everton player made a mess of France’s offside trap to allow Sudakov a clear run through for Ukraine’s second goal. Booked for an unnecessary lunge on Artem Bondarenko. France’s full-backs were their Achilles heel all tournament long, and it showed once again tonight.
Maxence Caqueret, 4
Enzo Le Fée, 5
Khéphren Thuram, 4 – Struggled at dictating the tempo of the game and was not involved enough in France’s build-up play. A disappointing outing from the Nice midfielder, given his potential and his status as a senior France international. Unsurprisingly substituted, and replaced by Amine Adli.
Bradley Barcola, 5
Rayan Cherki, 5
Amine Gouiri, 4
Others : Mudryk, 7 – A match-winning performance from the Chelsea winger. Despite a low number of touches, he proved instrumental in Ukraine’s win thanks to his pace and vision. A constant threat whenever he has the ball.
GFFN | Bastien Cheval