France bounced back from Friday’s surprise loss to Colombia as they beat World Cup hosts Russia 3-1 in Saint Petersburg.

Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps rang in the changes, with seven new players introduced into the starting XI and the trio of Anthony Martial, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe starting together. Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, recalled from the bench, set up Mbappe for the first on 40 minutes. He was again on hand to make it 2-0 shortly after half time, curling in a wonderful free kick.

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Zinedine Zidane has become the first French manager to lift the Champions League after Real beat Atletico Madrid on penalties last night. This is Zidane’s debut season as Real Madrid manager and he inspired a turn around at the Bernabeu that saw them take the title race to the last day of the season.

He has also been present in Real’s last two Champions League victories before this one- in 2002 as a player and in 2014 as an assistant manager Continue reading →