Croatia contained the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele in a 2-0 victory over France in the first leg of the Nations League quarterfinals Thursday.
Ante Budimir headed Croatia ahead in the 26th minute off a cross from Ivan Perisic with France goalkeeper Mike Maignan partially blocking the ball before it crossed the line.
Perišić doubled the advantage in first-half stoppage time in Split to spoil Mbappé’s return after a six-month absence from the national team.
Andrej Kramaric’s penalty in the eighth minute was saved by Maignan, who dived to the right but used his feet to make the stop.
Mbappé tested Dominik Livakovic with several shots in the first half but the Croatia goalkeeper produced some decent saves to deny him. Both Mbappé and Dembélé, the French league’s top scorer for Paris Saint-Germain, have already reached the 30-goal mark overall this season.
Mbappé, the Real Madrid star, captained Les Bleus in what was his first start for the national team since a 3-1 loss to Italy on Sept. 6.
The 26-year-old Mbappé is third on France’s all-time scoring list with 48 goals, but he has found the net in only two of his past 13 international games.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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