France 0-2 Spain: Deulofeu makes himself king of France in 10 minutes

France 0-2 Spain: Deulofeu makes himself king of France in 10 minutes

Deulofeu celebrates for Spain
Deulofeu celebrates for Spain | sport

The winger earned a penalty from Laurent Koscielny and then scored Spain's second goal

The VAR system made two crucial decisions which helped Spain gain a deserved victory too

There has been a lot of clamour surrounding Gerard Deulofeu since he returned to form on loan at AC Milan and this is why.

The Everton winger drew a penalty from Laurent Koscielny moments after coming on as a substitute and less than 10 minutes later netted Spain’s second goal of the night to give them an impressive victory over Euro 2016 finalists France.

It was just a friendly but both teams picked serious sides which could conceivably start at the Russia 2018 World Cup.

Something else which might start next summer is the Video Assistants Refereeing system (VAR), which was used twice to good effect here.

Referee Felix Zwayer consulted his video assistant after Antoine Griezmann headed home in the 48th minute but the goal correctly was ruled out because Layvin Kurzawa was offside in the build-up.

He also utilised the service to correctly allow Deulofeu’s strike, after the linesman had tried to rule it out for a non-existent offside.

It came from a brilliant move, starting with Sergio Busquets, moving on to Isco and then Jordi Alba, who crossed for Deulofeu to pounce at the back post. 

Those two might be combining next season if Barcelona take advantage of the 12 million euro buy-back clause they have on Deulofeu.

The first half was an even affair, with Iniesta going close twice and Pique clearing a Koscielny effort off the line, but Spain’s quality in midfield told, with Chelsea star N’Golo Kante finding it harder going here than in the Premier League.

Spain coach Julen Lopetegui said: “Spain didn’t win because of VAR, we won because of effort, ambition and the football of our players. 

“But the truth is VAR helped make justice, it did its work well because in the two actions it had to judge, it judged correctly.

“I don’t want the victory viewed through this prism, what stays with me is the hard work, attitude and commitment of Spain’s players.”

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