The Netherlands and France were forced to share the spoils after playing out to goalless in the Euro 2024 at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.
The French skipper sat out the entire encounter after fracturing his nose in France’s opening 1-0 victory over Austria just four days prior.
Xavi Simons’ goal for the Netherlands was controversially called off, while France’s Antoine Griezmann squandered two golden opportunities.
A split of the spoils leaves the teams tied on four points at the top of Group D, one point ahead of Austria, which defeated Poland 3-1 earlier on Friday.
In the section’s final games on Tuesday, France will meet the Poles, while the Netherlands will face Austria.
Les Bleus had won both of their qualification matches, but Mbappe scored four of France’s six goals.
Roared on by an orange wall that surrounded two-thirds of the Leipzig Stadium, the Dutch nearly capitalised on any French hesitancy within a minute.
Jeremie Frimpong’s blistering pace put him through on goal, but the Bayer Leverkusen player couldn’t finish cleanly, and Mike Maignan turned his effort behind.
Aurelien Tchouameni replaced Mbappe in France’s only alteration, as coach Didier Deschamps sought the stability of an extra midfielder.
Without their captain and icon, the 2022 World Cup finalists looked to Griezmann for inspiration.
The stand-in skipper stung Bart Verbruggen’s palms from a distance.
However, the Atletico Madrid forward squandered the best opportunity to open the scoring before halftime.
Adrien Rabiot played a clever move, but when he chose to pass rather than shoot, Griezmann failed to connect with his weaker right foot.
On the other end, Maignan needed to make another excellent save low to his left to turn Cody Gakpo’s drive behind.
France had the best chances in the second period.
Marcus Thuram sent a shot just wide from the edge of the box before Tchouameni failed to keep a header down.
Griezmann, who is generally trustworthy, made another costly mistake when his feeble shot was turned behind by Verbruggen with the goal gaping.
The main talking point of the tournament’s first goalless draw, however, was the Dutch’s failure to win.
After Maignan saved Memphis Depay’s shot 18 minutes from time, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Simons scored on the rebound.
The goal was ruled out for offside by the officials on the pitch, who determined that Denzel Dumfries was interfering with Maignan’s ability to stop the shot.
After a lengthy VAR review, which has been a pleasant rarity at the tournament thus far, the offside was affirmed, giving France a respite.
Deschamps turned on the opportunity to risk Mbappe in the final stages, instead bringing on Olivier Giroud and Kingsley Coman in quest of a winner.
However, both teams settled for a point, which is almost certainly enough to ensure their position in the knockout rounds thanks to the safety net that allows the four best third-place finishers to progress.
Photo by EPA/ANNA SZILAGYI
