A victory over Croatia would be a good omen for France | OneFootball

Before the 1998 World Cup semi-finals, they had never met on the international stage, but they’ve built up a solid rivalry since then.

For over 20 years, France and Croatia have produced some epic encounters and unlikely stories, beginning at the Stade de France in ’98 when Lilian Thuram became a national hero with two goals.

He wouldn’t score another one with Les Bleus for the remainder of his international career, though he starred in another World Cup semi-final eight years later when France defeated Portugal (1-0).

Both France and Croatia have squared off nine more times since that memorable 2-1 semi-final triumph in ’98, with the French emerging victorious on six occasions and suffering just one defeat.

There was the infamous altercation between Laurent Blanc and Slaven Bilic in that ’98 semi-final, which led to the Frenchman’s first expulsion after the Croats fell over despite little contact.

The outcome of France-Croatia has often been a good sign of things to come for whoever wins.

When these teams met in a May 2000 friendly, France came away with a 2-0 win, winning the Euros a couple of months later in Rotterdam.

In 2018, France claimed their second World Cup title with a 4-2 victory in the final against a Croatian squad that had played six hours of football in the knockout phase before that contest.

Every time these sides have faced each other in a major competition, and when one team has emerged victorious, the victors have made it all the way to the final.

Didier Deschamps’ men won both Nations League group fixtures against the Croats in 2020, eventually lifting the trophy for the first time later that season.

In the previous edition of that tournament, Croatia claimed a 1-0 victory in a June 2022 group contest versus France but ultimately lost in the final next year on penalties to Spain (5-4).

The two sides square off in the Nations League quarter-finals, with the opening leg occurring on March 20 in Split, followed by the second leg at the Stade de France three days later.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre