France have faith in firepower

BUDAPEST • World champions France hope their attacking stars finally align against defending European champions Portugal today in an intriguing finale to Euro 2020's "Group of Death".

The tournament favourites top Group F but their much vaunted attacking trio of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema will be disappointed to have only one goal among them.

Benzema in particular has come up for heavy criticism, with the 33-year-old, recalled for this Euro after a near six-year international exile, lacking cohesion with his teammates. He has now failed to score from 30 shots over three European Championships, but coach Didier Deschamps is still keeping faith with the man who bagged 29 goals for Real Madrid last season.

"With his experience, I don't think he has doubts. He's been doing some good things. He knows a lot is expected from him but it's not just about goals," he said.

A draw against Portugal, who beat France in the Euro 2016 final, may be enough for Les Bleus to go through as group winners as they have four points, one more than Germany and Portugal.

Even if they lose, they could also qualify for the last 16 as one of the best third-placed teams before kick-off if results in other groups go their way but Deschamps would like to avoid that scenario.

On his misfiring front line, he insisted the trio could not bear the whole responsibility in attack.

"You cannot dissociate their performance from that of the midfielders and the full-backs," he added.

Griezmann, who grabbed the equaliser against the Hungarians, remains relaxed.

"What every striker needs at the beginning of a competition is to score that first goal," he added. "When one goes in, they will flow."

But should the attack fail to click again, Deschamps does have alternatives up front in Olivier Giroud - France's all-time second top scorer, Kingsley Coman and Wissam Ben Yedder. Giroud is eager for his first start at the Euro, telling French daily Le Figaro: "The France team have a fairly incredible strike force, but I have a card to play because there are no other players with my profile."

Number of international goals Cristiano Ronaldo has scored. The Portuguese talisman is just two shy of the all-time men's record held by former Iran striker Ali Daei.

Portugal need to avoid defeat to be guaranteed a spot in the knockout rounds and a draw would likely send Fernando Santos' side through as one of the four best third-placed teams, just like when they won the title five years ago.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the danger man - he is two goals shy of the all-time men's international record, set by Ali Daei (109) - but the Portugal captain has never scored in six previous attempts against France.

Santos is expected to bolster his midfield against Deschamps' side, with Renato Sanches expected to start in place of Bernardo Silva while Joao Moutinho is another contender to replace one of their two holding midfielders in William Carvalho and Danilo Pereira.

"It is very difficult against France, we want to give a better image of ourselves than we did in the last match," Moutinho said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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PORTUGAL V FRANCE

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