World chanpions France booked their berth in the Nation’s League finals next year with a hard won 1-0 win over defending champions Portugal in Lisbon. This was virtually a final given that the other participants in the group Croatia and Sweden were out of contention going into the final 2 fixtures. N’golo Kanye pounced on Rui Patricio’s inability to hold on to a tame shot to give the French the victory. France made wholesale changes to the side beaten by Finland midweek with German based players Hernandez and Coman starting but kept faith in Pogba in a box to box role. Cristiano Ronaldo looked threatening on set pieces and Portugal lacked the final product on such set pieces leading to their loss on Saturday.
Deschamps’s side should have been ahead before half time but Patricio bravely saved from Martial at point blank range. Anthony Martial’s finishing let him down for most of the match.
