France suffered a 2-0 defeat against Croatia in the first leg of the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals on March 20, 2025, at Stadion Poljud in Split. Despite the return of key players Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé, France struggled to find their rhythm against a determined Croatian side.
Croatia's Ante Budimir opened the scoring in the 26th minute, capitalizing on defensive lapses by France. Ivan Perišić extended the lead just before halftime with a well-placed header. Earlier in the match, French goalkeeper Mike Maignan saved a penalty from Andrej Kramarić, preventing an even larger deficit.
France created several scoring opportunities but were consistently denied by Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livaković. The French side will need to overturn this deficit in the second leg, scheduled for Sunday at Stade de France, to advance to the semifinals.
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