SAINT-DENIS, France: Goalkeeper Mike Maignan saved twice in the shoot-out as France beat Croatia 5-4 on penalties on Sunday after their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie had ended 2-2 on aggregate, sealing a place in the last four in June.
Les Bleus won 2-0 on the night with goals in normal time by Michael Olize and Ousmane Dembele at the Stade de France to wipe out their deficit from Thursday’s first leg.
With no further scoring in extra time the tie went to penalties, where Maignan saved from both Martin Baturina and Josip Stanisic, while Franjo Ivanovic also missed for the visitors.
Jules Kounde and Theo Hernandez both failed to convert for the hosts, but Dayot Upamecano scored when he became the seventh France player to step up, sparking scenes of celebrations on the pitch and in the crowd of 77,502.
“We woke up thinking it could be a great night. We were convinced we were going to do something great,” captain Kylian Mbappe told broadcaster TF1.
“And we know when it comes to penalties that we have a goalkeeper who can make the difference.”
France, who won the Nations League in 2021, will now take on title-holders Spain in the semifinals in Stuttgart in Germany on June 5, with the winners advancing to the final in Munich three days later.
Germany will face Portugal in Munich in the other last-four tie.
“Getting to the final is an objective,” Mbappe added. “These are the kind of matches you want to play in and there is a title up for grabs.”
Croatia, who lost on penalties to Spain in the final of the last Nations League in 2023, will now instead start their qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in June.
They will go into qualifying Group L with the Czech Republic, Montenegro, the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar, who they will face first on June 6.
“It was a very difficult night for us. We were not able to repeat our performance from the first leg,” admitted Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic.
“It is good experience for us for the future. The aim now is to get to the World Cup and I think we can do it.”
France’s progress to the final stages of the Nations League means they will not begin their World Cup qualifying campaign until September, when they will be in Group D with Ukraine, Iceland and Azerbaijan.
Both sides were eyeing silverware in the Nations League and Croatia held the upper hand after triumphing 2-0 in the first leg in Split.
Nevertheless France, whose coach Didier Deschamps will step down in 2026 after 14 years in charge, were hoping for a comeback similar to their famous recovery against Ukraine in a World Cup qualifying play-off in 2013.
They won that after overturning a 2-0 first-leg loss with a 3-0 victory in the return at the Stade de France.
Here Deschamps made five changes from the first leg, with Bayern Munich duo Upamecano and Olize among those coming into the team.
They pinned Croatia back from the off in this latest repeat of the 2018 World Cup final won by the French, but it took them until the 52nd minute to get the breakthrough.
Olize was the scorer, finding the net with a marvellous free-kick from just outside the box following a foul on Mbappe, for his first goal in a France shirt.
Mbappe then saw his shot from Dembele’s low cross flash just wide on 75 minutes before the hosts levelled the tie on aggregate 10 minutes from time. Mbappe found Olize and his cutback was swept in first-time by Dembele.
France took the momentum with them into extra time where Mbappe twice forced saves from Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Mbappe has now failed to score in his last seven games for his country and has found the net just once in his last 10 appearances in a France shirt, from a penalty against Poland at Euro 2024.
The Real Madrid superstar did score in the shoot-out, however, converting France’s first penalty.
Aurelien Tchouameni, Randal Kolo Muani and Desire Doue also scored for the hosts before Upamecano’s winner.