Areola, France Key to Abort Germany’s Goal

DBasia.news – The goalkeeper and captain of the team, Hugo Lloris is known as one of the most contributing players for France’s success story to win the 2018 World Cup a couple times ago.

But during the first match of France in UEFA Nations League against Germany at Allianz Arena on Thursday, Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps entrusted the main goalkeeper position to Paris Saint-Germain player, Alphonse Areola.

Areola answered Deschamps’ trust perfectly. He could save the net with a clean sheet despite the attacks from the host, especially during the last 25 minutes. France ended the match with a 0-0 score.

As the 2018 World Cup champion, France started the match with high confidence. When he started in the first round, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann threatened Germany’s defense.

However, Toni Kroos and friends returned the dominance during the match. Luckily, Areola performed fantastically. The 25-year-old goalkeeper explained the key to his great performance. “I had a fair amount of work to do and stayed focused, that was the important thing.”

“I was part of the World Cup squad and I know everybody. My team-mates put their confidence in me and I just needed to play the way I do every weekend,” Areola revealed.

By this draw score, France extended the record of playing away against Germany. During the past five matches, France won three times and draw two times. Hence, Deschamps praised the result.

“We were better sometimes and at other times they were better,” said France coach Didier Deschamps. “Obviously the players are not at the peak of their fitness at the moment but they gave it (their) all. Our goal was to win the game but we played a 0-0 in Germany which is still a good result,” Deschamps explained.