"I want the final to be Spain vs the Netherlands" - Frank Leboeuf explains why he wants neither France nor England to progress
Former France international Frank Leboeuf has explained why he doesn't want his nation and England to play in the final of Euro 2024. Les Bleus face Spain (July 9) in the final four, while The Three Lions are up against the Netherlands (July 10).
He seemingly favored the aforementioned teams due to their offensive style of football. Speaking exclusively to Get French Football News, Leboeuf said:
"Deep down, of course, I support France, but for the sake of football, I want the final to be Spain vs the Netherlands.
"Spain and Germany proved that it's possible to play another way, and the Netherlands changed their style after the group stage, it's a different team now, ok they suffered in the last match, but they played football. Yes you need a defensive structure, I've no issue with that and Didier Deschamps is the perfect example of that way of thinking."
He continued:
"The difference between club and international football is that there has always been the challenge to find the alchemy with the players who come into the international team but don't have time to work together. That's the job of the international manager, to work out who is capable of playing with whom.
"I'm sorry but Gareth Southgate, he doesn't know how. He is incapable of changing his team, he doesn't know how to find that alchemy. And it's his job. He doesn't have those players every day, but his role is to say, can I take that player, that player, can they play together?"
England have only scored five goals throughout Euro 2024, while France have netted thrice.
France manager Didier Deschamps calls for more goals ahead of Euro 2024 semi-final
France manager Didier Deschamps has urged his side to score more goals heading into Les Bleus' UEFA Euro 2024 semi-final fixture against Spain on Tuesday.
The team has failed to score from open play in the tournament and two of their three strikes have been own goals. Amid these concerns, Deschamps said (via Fox Sports):
"We need to score more goals. When you score more goals, you can manage things. Otherwise we are at the mercy of our opponents."
However, the French have been brilliant on the defensive side of things. They've only conceded one goal in the entire competition, which was a penalty against Poland in the group stages (1-1).