Football News Update: Euro 2024, Champions League, FIFA World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations Standings, Premier League, EFL Cup, EFL Championship, EFL One, EFL Two, and FA Cup
Spain have no choice but to shake things up for their huge Euro 2024 semi-final against France this Tuesday night, live on talkSPORT. La Roja beat hosts Germany to book their place in the last four and continued their 100 per cent winning record at the tournament.
Spain knocked Germany out to set up a clash with France, who have been on the opposite end of the entertainment scale. Kylian Mbappe and co still haven’t managed to score a goal from open play, booking their place in this game after beating Portugal on penalties.
Luis de la Fuente and Didier Deschamps will be assessing their options ahead of the semis, and talkSPORT.com takes a look at how they could line up.
Spain head into this semi-final knowing that three of their stars will be missing. During their clash with Germany, centre-back Robin Le Normand picked up his second yellow card of the tournament and is now suspended. Dani Carvajal suffered the same fate and he would go on to get sent off anyway, meaning he can’t play a part against France either. It means De la Fuente will have to change things at the back, potentially bringing in Real Madrid’s Nacho Fernandez and former Man City man Jesus Navas.
In midfield, Pedri won’t play again in Germany after picking up an injury last time out, and Dani Olmo is likely to take his place. He’ll line up alongside Rodri and Fabian Ruiz, who are arguably two leading contenders for Player of the Tournament. In front of them, Spain’s front three will remain the same, with young stars Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams set to cause chaos out wide again. Alvaro Morata will lead the line as captain.
France don’t have any suspensions or fresh injury issues for the semi-final, and that could prove to be a huge advantage over Spain. Mike Maignan will be in goal, while the back four of Jules Kounde, Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba and Theo Hernandez have been superb. Aurelian Tchouameni and N’Golo Kante will start in midfield, potentially joined by Adrien Rabiot.
“Antoine Griezmann may move forward to join the front line, working in tandem with Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele. Mbappe hasn’t been at his best at Euro 2024, largely due to his broken nose and the problems caused by having to wear a mask, but Deschamps is expected to continue with him in his starting line-up.”
The highly anticipated semi-final clash between Spain and France promises to be an exciting encounter in the race for the Euro 2024 title.
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