France’s winless finals record against Sweden before Tuesday’s World Cup tie | OneFootball

France face Sweden in the World Cup round of 32 on Tuesday at 23:00, and they have never beaten them in the finals phase of a major tournament.

The overall head-to-head since 1935 is 12 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats. L'Équipe looks back at Euro 1992 and Euro 2012 to show how finals meetings went wrong.

At Euro 1992, Michel Platini’s side arrived after eight wins from eight in qualifying and opened against hosts Sweden in Solna on 10 June. Jan Eriksson struck on 25 minutes, then Jean-Pierre Papin levelled on 59 for 1-1 past Thomas Ravelli.

France then drew 0-0 with England and lost 1-2 to Denmark, late call-ups after Yugoslavia’s exclusion who went on to win the tournament. The 1984 champions Michel Platini, Manuel Amoros and Luis Fernandez bowed out.

At Euro 2012 in Kiev on 19 June, after 1-1 with England and 2-0 against Ukraine, Laurent Blanc’s team needed only a point against already-eliminated Sweden. Zlatan Ibrahimovic led the opposition.

France lost 0-2, Ibrahimovic scoring with an acrobatic right-foot volley on 54 minutes and Sebastian Larsson adding a second on 90+1. England beat Ukraine 1-0, so France still progressed.

Olivier Giroud said there was plenty of anger in the dressing room. There were rows involving Samir Nasri with Alou Diarra, and Laurent Blanc with Hatem Ben Arfa. Only Nasri featured, as a substitute, in the 0-2 quarter-final defeat by Spain, who completed a Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 treble.

Source: L'Équipe