France win Nations league – as it happened!

Righto, that’s us. Thanks all for your company and comments – I hope you enjoyed a pulsating second half. Here’s our match report, but otherwise ta-ra.

Tricolore draped over his shoulders – no, not the French textbook but imagine how great that’d be – Varane looks happy enough so perhaps his injury is minor. But maybe he’s just enjoying that lovely player-issue puffa – I know I would be. Anyhow, France ascend the dais, then Lloris gets ready to receive the trophy...

The incredible Sergio Busquets is awarded player of the tournament, then the officials collect their medals as the crowd boo. Martin Tyler is proud that they come from the same arbitrary landmass as he does; I hope the rest of you are equally so, even if you don’t.

We’re back with the players now, the French team forming a guard of honour for Spain to walk through as they collect their losers medals. I’m sure taking part in such a #classygesture will cushion the blow.

Yeah, looking at the laws, this is why the winner was allowed: “A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball, including by deliberate handball, is not considered to have gained an advantage, unless it was a deliberate save by any opponent. “

I don’t know about that. I mean the officials got the call right, but I’m not sure the law is fair. Garcia played Mbappe offside but he could hardly be so convinced as to just let the ball by. I don’t mind giving the advantage to the attacker if a decision is marginal, but I don’t understand why we’re allowing one to be offside then on again.

Where’s Peter Walton when you need him to agree with whatever the officials have decided? It’s early doors I know, but he’s my shout for the new Bond.

“On French TV they say a Spanish player touched the ball after Hernandez’s pass, playing Mbappe back onside,” says Arnaud, while Teo Teng Kiat confirms that“Eric García deliberately got a touch to the pass, hence Mbappe was not deemed offside.”

I wonder if Garcia went for it because he knew Mbappe was off; that might be a loophole in the law, but ultimately it’s hard to bitch too much about the advantage going to the attacker.

That was an absolute blinder of a second half, to complete a jazzer of a week. The best teams playing each other with a trophy on the line – whoever at Uefa came up with that formula needs a raise.

90+6 min We’re playing time added onto time added on and surely France are there now, Oyarzabal pumping into the box for Kimpembe to head away, then again!

90+4 min Spain win a corner down the left and Simon goes up; I think he gets a flick but either way his presence is confusing and France can’t get first or second contact, Oyarzabal smashing a shot goalwards ... that Lloris strongarms away superbly!

90+4 min It’s funny really, how long we’ve been sitting through nonsense internationals, when the answer was just “let’s have another competition”.

90+3 min Spain hump a hopeful cross into the box – I’ve always said they need Fellaini - but Kounde gets up with Oyarzabal then Pogba completes the clearance.

90+2 min France send on Veretout for Griezmann.

90 min This has been a fantastically frantic last 30, and we’ve five minutes more to enjoy, unless Spain can find an equaliser an earn us another half-hour.

89 min Now France charge down the other end and find Mbappe, this time on the right of the box. But he can’t sort he feet out as nicely as he did earlier, digging out a sidefooter that Simon saves easily enough.

88 min Busquets clips a delicious pass over the top which Alonso controls on his chest and on the burst, but that takes him wide and he can’t get off a shot or a cross. But Spain aren’t finished, Koke lofting to Oyarzabal whose volley skids and skips along the turf, banged away by Lloris with a strong arm! He did well to see the rebound elude the various attackers in the box, but that’s a crucial save!

88 min “It was miles offside,” emails Tim Stappard.

That’s what I thought, so wondered if there was something I’d missed. I wonder what the official missed if so.

87 min Pogba and Griezmann stand behind the free-kick, Pogba tapping while Greizmann turns, moving with the ball to larrup a curler over the bar.

86 min Dubois dashes past Laporte, who knocks him over and is booked.

85 min I’m actually a little surprised Rodri’s been sacrificed, as he’s the only Spain player who looks any kind of threat from corners. No, that’s not how they play, but with five to go a corner might be all they get.

84 min Ch-ch-changes for Spain, Merino on for Torres and Fornals for Rodri.

82 min That was also a fine pass from Hernandez, with just enough pace to elude Garcia’s slide but not too much to run through to the keeper.

81 min Looking at a replay, Mbappe looked offside to me, but the check is over and he’s on! Perhaps Alonso was playing him on over on the far side, but either way that was a beautifully worked-out finish.

80 min France send on Dubois for Pavard, who sits down and chucks shinpads in disgust.

78 min “Spain score on their first pass over three yards,” tweets Pete Mumola. “Just saying.”

Yup, I agree that they should mix it up more, but they lack a bit of thrust in attack so I can see why they don’t.

76 min Pino controls a goalkick beautifully on his thigh, spinning away and eventually sliding a pass into space for Koke, close to the right by-line. He crosses, and Tchouameni blocks at source, ceding a corner. It goes short and France force Spain back.

76 min “I was beginning to agree with Bob Cushion (re boring first half) and started watching an episode of Homeland while secretly watching the match on my computer. In the space of a few seconds, I’ve seen a crossbar hit, a wonderful Spanish goal and a simply astonishing effort from Benzema. I’m afraid I’ll have to put Homeland on hold.”

On which point, can I recommend Hatufim, the Israeli series on which Homeland was based? It’s well worth a look-in.

75 min Change for Spain, Koke replacing Gavi; it must be his bedtime.

74 min Rodri is a pretty decent target and Spain hit him again, but this time his flick sails over the bar.

73 min Rodri pushes forward and with no one closing him down he lets a shot go, a deflection sending the ball soaring over the bar for a corner.

72 min Suddenly Mbappe is finding space, and when Griezmann sweeps out to him, he looks to henry a finish into the far corner but doesn’t gets a decent connection, allowing Simon to save.

71 min “Based on just today’s matches,” says Mike MacKenzie, “I think Italy would have beaten either France or Spain today!”

Perhaps – I was on the WSL earlier so didn’t see the first game, but I’m not sure the matchups suit them.

70 min After a cagey hour this is now basketball, the sides swapping attacks. That’ll suit France, who have the deadlier forwards but have struggled to service them prior to this point.

69 min Wow, phew, etcetera.

68 min Here come France again, Mbappe running the channel to collect Griezmann’s path, and with Simon off his line he tries a chip which sails over the bar.

64 min Nice from Pogba, setting France away down the left, and Mbappe screeches down the left then finds Benzema whose cross picks out Hernandez, and he batters his finish ... off the underside of the bar and away!

62 min Busquets makes sure to foul Griezmann, spinning on his arse while horizontal to head the ball away lest a counter be on. He’s obviously been watching Phil Jones.

62 min If we’re all-square after 90, it’s extra time then penalties.

61 min Pino, who was excellent off the bench against Italy, replaces Sarabia. He’ll go wide right, with Torres moving central.

60 min I can’t believe Deschamps is watching this thinking it’s going well, or according to plan, but he’s doing nothing to change things. Very odd.

59 min Triffic feet from Gavi, who wriggles out of trouble then spreads play right. Nothing comes of it, but I can’t wait to watch him alongside Pedri.

58 min Spain win a corner down the right which Alonso will swing in, and Rodri gets the flick ... but can only find Tchouameni, who clouts clear.

58 min These last few minutes have been better, but neither side has created anything.

56 min Alonso slides an oblique pass in behind for Gavi, who punishes legs and lungs to run past the strikers. But Tchouameni gets there first, just.

55 min Busquets is so good at getting to the ball first, nicking away from Kounde and wearing the inevitable lunge. Kounde follows Pogba into the book.

54 min This is more like it, Sarabia drifting wide then crossing low and well, the ball eluding Oyarzabal and Torres, just, then France nash up the other end where Pavard, on the touchline, sticks a decent ball in behind for Mbappe, forcing Alonso to slide in desperately. Good tackle.

53 min Pogba is lanking about with a fury we don’t see often enough, and he wins the ball in midfield then flies into a fifty/fifty that might see him sent off ... but he handles it well.

52 min Sarabia allows the ball to run by him, along the line, so Kounde nails him. Needle is rising...

51 min Pogba turns Rodri, who yanks him back, and when no yellow card is brandished, dismay follows.

49 min France don’t actually have loads on the bench; they might try Veretout, but a change of formation is where I’d start. Spain are hard enough to play with three on three in midfield but two on three? Donnez-moi un limon.

48 min Lloris chips a goalkick forward and immediately Spain regain possession. France are back to looking clueless; like their manager has never before seen Spain play.

46 min Again, France start a half putting Spain under as they try to play out, then a poor touch from Busquets has him stretching to slide the ball away and means that Pogba, who anticipated where he thought his tackle needed to go, treads on his foot. The tackle isn’t that different to the one for which Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off in Bern, nor the one that Kevin de Bruyne made in Paris, and he’s booked.

46 min We go again...

Back come the teams. Spain will want more of the same but with attacking incision, France will want to change the flow.

Half-time email: “Let’s be frank,” emails Bob Cushion. “It’s boring. I’m off to the bar.”

It got a bit slow in the second half of the half, but I enjoyed it overall. That said, I’d not mind an alcove right now.

That half started promisingly but didn’t get the goal it needed to ignite. Still, the second half should be decent and even if it isn’t we can all enjoy a chuckle at the prospect of Man United playing Leicester, Atalanta and Liverpool without Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire.

45+1 min The ball runs out for a throw and Enrique hands it back to Azpolicueta, covering his mouth before issuing instructions. Better safe than sorry, careless talk costs lives, send three and fourpence, we’re going to a dance.

45 min There’ll be two added minutes.

44 min “Talking as you were earlier of sharing joy,” says Simon McMahon, I’m sure you’ll join with me in wishing Paul Sturrock a happy 65th birthday today. Just imagine him, Mbappé and Lee Hendrie in the same team.”

Ah go on then, here’s a little thing on Luggy and pals. I’m not sure a city has ever boasted kits as fine as Dundee did in the early-to-mid-80s.

43 min Yup, Upamecano replaces Varane. I daresay Spain won’t mind that.

41 min Varane is down holding his right ankle and he doesn’t look happy. I think he landed awkwardly when intercepting a cross a moment ago, and though it doesn’t look a bad one, Upamecano is getting ready.

39 min A spot of possession for France, Pogba – who’s offering little in defence - flipping a ball over the top for Griezmann. But he puts just too much on it, and Simon collects easily enough.

38 min Torres, who’s been Spain’s best attacker, goes at Hernandez on the outside, and just when it looks like he’s done him, the defender gets close enough to barge him over. Shoulder to shoulder, reckons the ref ... just.

35 min Torres dashes across the face of the box and Tchouameni slides in, brushing the ball with his studs and clattering the man with his legs. Free-kick reckons the ref - harsh, in mine – and from 30 yards, Alonso looks low and for the near post, missing by a few yards.

35 min France need to change something here. They’re not getting battered but they’re hoping for a moment and have the players for better.

33 min “I haven’t noticed a single mention of Mbappé yet Daniel,” emails Rod Wooden. “Do you think this is because he’s being distracted by thoughts of his future salary at Newcastle?”

Nah, he just can’t decide whether his first night out should be at Ritzy’s Circus Circus, Perdu or the Tup Tup Palace.

31 min Rodri goes down the left and crosses, the ball striking Kounde’s arm after he runs past its flight. There’s a penalty appeal but his arm was trailing behind him, so nothing doing. Then Kounde wins a fine interception and sends Griezmann away; he quickly funnels inside to Mbappe. But Spain get back quickly and the attack duly breaks down.

30 min It’s almost all Spain now, their midfield darting more effective than France’s lumbering. They’re struggling to create, but at the moment it doesn’t matter how good Benzema and Mbappe are because they’re not in the game.

28 min I said before the game that I didn’t know whether Spain would keep the wingers wide or have them play down the side of France’s centre-backs with the full-backs stretching the play. Well, we now know that Enrique has chosen the former, but he needs players, whether midfield runners or those full-backs, to fill the gaps on the inside.

27 min Torres, staying wide presumably because France have no full-backs, takes advantage of a misunderstanding between Hernandes and Kimpembe, winning a corner ... which comes to nothing.

26 min But here come France, venturing into the Spain half for the first time in a while. Benzema, pulling left, punches a pass into Griezmann and follows it, but when it comes back to him the shooting lane are shut so he can only hammer into the nearest shins.

25 min Spain have had 66% possession, a stat which comes up right as I’m about to type that things have slowed down a little. Those two things may be connected.

23 min Kimpembe dallies on the ball and Torres worries him, handing France a thrown deep inside the Spain half. Which Azpilicueta chucks straight to Tchouameni before making a mess of his cross when the ball is given straight back to him.

21 min Tchouameni extends a go-go Gadget leg, taking the ball away from Rodri, who bodies him before Busquets can trip him.

20 min This is a decent game so far, both sides looking to attack and the style matchup giving scope to both.

18 min Yes Gavi! Laporte plays into him and he sees Pogba coming, shimmying hips to incite the lunge then allowing the ball past and dashing away, spreading wide and accepting the return before another adroit turn sends him towards the box. There, he runs into traffic, but that’s a vignette of how the game’s now going, Spain a step ahead of France.

17 min “This is clever movement from both teams,” says Ruth Purdue. Benzema is starting off wide sometimes to create space in the middle for Griezmann, while Gavi is a little more central to allow space for Torres or Azpilicueta.”

Yup, this has the makings of a very acceptable row. A goal in the next bit would set us up nicely.

16 min Torres, back on the touchline, crosses low, and Varane humps into touch.

14 min Sergio Busquets, what a hero, and for now at least, the only great on this pitch. He controls a goalkick with a glorious first touch, swivels, and sets an attack in motion which is to say that Spain are getting comfy.

13 min Looking again at that half-chance, Varane did a really good job following the run, so that while he couldn’t make the tackle, Sarabia knew he was there so rushed.

12 min But here’s Torres again, infield now, and this is what Spain are into, a cunning reverse-pass slid in behind to meet the run of Sarabia. He can’t get hold of his shot, which trickles through to Lloris, but that’s exactly the kind of move his team are looking for.

11 min Spain get it out to Torres, who’s wide on the right, where Hernandez bashes him aside with contemptuous ease.

10 min Spain don’t seem to have the legs to press the French defenders in possession; if they don’t score first, they’ve got an enormous problem.

8 min This is excellent from France, Pogba and Benzema combining to get the ball out to Pavard down the right. His cross is blocked behind, for a corner that comes to nowt.

7 min Spain haven’t got going yet – France look faster and stronger, with a plan to exploit those differences.

5 min France are looking to get at Spain high up the pitch, pressing as they try to play out. For that reason, Spain struggle to find an angle, forced into-high-risk passes ... which they complete nicely, working the ball up the left only to be funnelled back. Then they lose it in centrefield and here comes Pogba, sliding lusciously to meet the run of Benzema! He’s in! But Simon is out quickly, Benzema nipping around him, but the angle closes and he can’t find Mbappe, Azpilicueta banging clear.

4 min “Ah Lee Hendrie,” says my colleague John Windmill. “When commenting on Coventry v Fulham last week he got so worked up by a goal he yelled, ‘I’m so excited, ‘I’m taking my coat off!’”

And he wasn’t even wearing one!

3 min Pogba turns adroitly, allowing the ball to pass with him, so Azpilicueta introduces him to the turf.

2 min Gavi, who Enrique said needs to stop fouling, slides in, dragging both feet behind him, and rams them through Tchouameni. He’ll not be allowed many more of those.

1 min Ah man, it’s so good to see San Siro, one of the great amphitheatres of football – perhaps the greatest. They’ve planned to knock it down, but perhaps corona will persuade them to change their minds - I hope so.

1 min And go long, kicking for touch! Incredible scenes!

1 min Spain get us away!

Here comes the ball-car. Chortle! Titter!

The Premier League’s Anthony Taylor is reffing, what a buzz. Not since the glory days of Mike Mullarkey has English football enjoyed such triumph.

I can’t say I’d not like to hear the Italian anthem at this juncture of the weekend, but the two we’re getting are stone-cold bangers in their own right.

“How lovely of you to open your blog to complementary cultural elements like Lily’s Promise,” says Shane O’Leary. “I’m going to read that and I hope you will, in the return leg, give a listen to The Broken Family Band album, Welcome Home Loser. It was probably dedicated to Steve Bruce, but it is angry, black comedy cowpoking at it’s finest. Meanwhile... come on France!”

Thanks, I’ll have a look, though am bound to point out that Bruce has had a very decent career, though it’s not going so well for him at Newcastle.

Here come the teams; I’ll level with you, I was not expecting Martin Tyler to be joined in commentary by ... Lee Hendrie.

The players are tunnelling...

Credit where it’s due, this is a tremendous coat – though a bit big for this time of year.

The key to Spain’s win over Italy – other than how poorly Italy played – was the performance of Mikel Oyarzabal, who drifted across the front undetected all night. He might find it trickier against France’s three-man defence, though I imagine Luis Enrique will either ask his flank-men to play narrower or wider, depending on where he wants to find space and whether he relies in his full-backs for width.

I know I’ve been banging on about midfield and this and that, but maybe I’m talking nonsense and all we need to look at is Benzema and Mbappe v Garcia and Laporte. That could get as messy and Mr Kipling’s cakes are good.

It’s still baffling that France managed to avoid winning the Euros – a massive oversight, given the standard of their squad. Things can always go wrong in tournament football because there’s little margin for error, but losing Switzerland, from 3-1 up and with 10 to go, is one of the great oversights. I thought that winning the World Cup would see this team kick on in the way that the 1998 lot did, but in the event it’s been more of the same, some good stuff and some dross.

It’s hard not to look at that Spain XI and feel inadequate. Gavi, who played with such aggression and assurance against Italy, is only 17. Maybe he and his mates also went to Kwik Save the day that Hooch came out, tanned a load of bottles in the car park and then went back to school for triple politics. But also, maybe he didn’t.

Back to the football, I’m excited to see what steps France take to halt Spain’s passing carousel, to borrow Alex Ferguson’s lovely phrase. The most obvious one is the selection of Tchouameni, whose intelligence and dynamism should be more effective than Rabiot’s running about. I’m not sure a two, one of whom is Pogba, have much chance of getting in the road of a three – now that you ask, I’d probably have picked both and used Pogba further forward instead of Griezmann, who wins his hundredth cap.

I like to see these blogs as an opportunity to share joy, so please allow me to recommend a book, Lily’s Promise, that it also seems apt to share when discussing the final of a pan-European competition. Here’s a short description, along with an encomium from someone whom you might deem more authoritative on the subject than me:

When Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated in 1945, a Jewish-American soldier gave her a banknote on which he’d written ‘Good luck and happiness’. And when her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI, 96-year-old Lily found herself making headlines round the world. Lily had promised herself that if she survived Auschwitz she would tell everyone the truth about the camp. Now was her chance.

In Lily’s Promise she writes movingly about her happy childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings on their arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 and her determination to keep her two other sisters safe. She describes the inhumanity of the camp and the small acts of defiance that gave her strength. From there she and her sisters became slave labour in a munitions factory, and then faced a death march that they barely survived.

Lily lost so much, but she built a new life for herself and her family, first in Israel and then in London. It wasn’t easy; the pain of her past was always with her, but this extraordinary woman found the strength to speak out in the hope that such evil would never happen again.

“Utterly compelling, heartbreaking, truthful and yet redemptive, a memoir of the Holocaust, a testimony of irrepressible spirit and an unforgettable family chronicle, written in lucid prose by a truly remarkable woman about her life from Hungary to Auschwitz, Israel to London. I couldn’t stop reading it.” Simon Sebag Montefiore

France, meanwhile, also make one change at the back, Presnel Kimpembe taking Lucas Hernandez’s spot, and one in midfield, Aurelien Tchouameni nabbing Adrien Rabiot’s place next to Paul Pogba.

Spain make two changes to the team that beat Italy. At centre-back, Pau Torres is again replaced by Erik Garcia after his feeble challenge invited Italy back into the game the other night, while in midfield Rodri is in for Koke, running power sacrificed for passing and presence. Ferran Torres, who was an injury doubt, is fit to start.