Croatia spoil Mbappe’s return with 2-0 win

Croatia contained the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele in a 2-0 victory over France in the first leg of their Nations League quarterfinal.

Ante Budimir headed Croatia ahead in the 26th minute off a cross from Ivan Perisic with France goalkeeper Mike Maignan partially blocking the ball before it crossed the line. Perisic doubled the advantage in first-half stoppage time in Split to spoil Mbappe’s return after a six-month absence from the national team.

Andrej Kramaric’s penalty in the eighth minute was saved by Maignan, who dived to the right but used his feet to make the stop.

Mbappe tested Dominik Livakovic with several shots in the first half but the Croatia goalkeeper produced some decent saves to deny him. Both Mbappe and Dembele, the French league’s top scorer for Paris Saint-Germain, have already reached the 30-goal mark overall this season.

In other first-leg quarterfinal matches, Germany came from behind to beat Italy 2-1, defending champions Spain salvaged a 2-2 draw against the 10-man Netherlands, and Denmark beat Portugal 1-0.