France clinched third place in the UEFA Nations League after defeating hosts Germany 2-0 in a fiercely contested play-off match in Stuttgart, with Kylian Mbappe reaching a major milestone by scoring his 50th international goal.
The French captain opened the scoring just before half-time, calmly finishing a well-weighted pass from Real Madrid teammate Aurelien Tchouameni in the 45th minute.
Mbappe later turned provider, punishing a defensive error by Robin Koch and unselfishly squaring the ball for Michael Olise, who sealed the win six minutes from full-time.
Germany, under mounting pressure following a semi-final loss to Portugal, saw two key moments overturned by VAR.
Karim Adeyemi was initially awarded a penalty but was booked for simulation upon review. Later, Deniz Undav’s goal was disallowed due to a foul by Niclas Fullkrug in the build-up.
Despite their frustrations, Germany had several chances. Adeyemi forced three saves from French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who also tipped Florian Wirtz’s shot onto the post.
On the other end, France also struck the woodwork through Marcus Thuram, while Mbappe had multiple efforts saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Germany’s Joshua Kimmich lamented the missed opportunities: “We should have been 3-0 up after six minutes. We lost our shape and made too many errors.”
France boss Didier Deschamps credited Maignan’s early heroics: “Mike was our wall. We didn’t deserve to lead at half-time, but we took our chance and improved.”
The result adds more pressure on Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany, now winless in three matches. Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal will battle for the Nations League title later tonight in Munich.
