Eduardo Camavinga features as France draw with Israel

France had only one Real Madrid representative in their current squad after injury to Aurélien Tchouameni and the exclusions of Ferland Mendy and, most controversially, Kylian Mbappé. That meant that Eduardo Camavinga was the only man from the Bernabéu to feature as France drew 0-0 with Israel in the UEFA Nations League on Thursday night.

There was a bizarre atmosphere at the Stade de France, with local fans boycotting the game due to the conflict in the Middle East, and some violent clashes between French fans and the visiting Israel fans both in the city during the day and within the stadium ahead of kick-off.

That resulted in the lowest ever attendance at the arena for a football game as only 16,611 fans attended the game, including around 800 visiting supporters.

Despite the scenes off the field, Eduardo Camavinga was in the starting line-up for Didier Deschamps and played through the first 71 minutes before being replaced by Adrien Rabiot in the midfield.

Camavinga had partnered the experienced N’Golo Kanté with Warren Zaire-Emery starting in a more advanced central role. That wasn’t to say that Camavinga wasn’t involved offensively, as that was where he primarily excelled, recording four shots from distance including two which tested Bayern Munich goalkeeper Daniel Peretz in goal for Israel.

Camavinga also created one chance with 0.37 expected assists as he was instrumental in France’s build-up play, particularly in the second period when he took a step forward and became more involved as France looked to break down Israel’s low block which saw Camavinga register 14 passes into the final third.

Booked for bringing down Sagiv Yehezkel to end a rapid counter, Camavinga was left exposed in the transition at times, but still won six duels and looked defensively comfortable before being taken off and rested for the final 20 minutes.

France will now face Italy with top spot in Group 2 of the UEFA Nations League A up for grabs between the two teams, with the Frenchmen needing to win in Milan to stand a chance of finishing top.