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In the most anticipated game from the first round of fixtures, world champions France got off to a winning start at Euro 2020 when they defeated Germany 1-0.
After a somewhat cagey start to the game, the first moment of note in the game led to the fixture's only goal. Paul Pogba produced a delightful cross-field pass to find Lucas Hernandez on the left hand side of the box. When Hernandez tried to pick out Kylian Mbappe with a low-driven cross, the ball was inadvertently diverted into the German goal by Mats Hummels to give France a 1-0 lead in the Euro 2020 fixture.
While the rest of the first half passed by without any further highlights, there was significant controversy in the 44th minute when it appeared that Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger had bitten Pogba in an off-the-ball incident. No action was taken, however, and France took their advantage into the break with the score remaining 1-0 in the Euro 2020 clash.
Offside denies Mbappe and Benzema their first Euro 2020 goals
France nearly started the second half with a bang when Adrien Rabiot elected not to seek out Antoine Greizmann in the middle and instead fired an effort that struck the post before going behind for a goal kick. Two minutes later Germany were almost level when a deep cross from Robin Gosens was met by Serge Gnabry, whose volley went narrowly over the bar.
Germany remained a threat and could have been in had it not been for some brave defending by Benjamin Pavard, who looked to have suffered a serious head injury in the process but surprisingly returned to finish all 90 minutes on the field.
In the 66th minute, Mbappe thought he had doubled his nation's advantage but his low curling finish was ultimately ruled out due to offside. Mbappe continued to torment the German defense and after racing past Hummels thought he had won a penalty before the German's challenge was judged to have been a fair one.
Mbappe was denied once again when, after a VAR review, it was decided that he was once again offside before squaring the ball to Karim Benzema resulting in another disallowed goal. As a result, neither Mbappe nor Benzema were able to open their Euro 2020 accounts.
Ultimately this would prove to be the last action of the match as the French secured victory. Next up at Euro 2020, they will take on Hungary while Germany will have another blockbuster fixture against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal.
