Saliba helps France into semi-finals after Liverpool defender is dropped | OneFootball

William Saliba helped France into the semi-finals of the Nations League on Sunday, with the team keeping a clean sheet and ultimately progressing on penalties.

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Arsenal’s William Saliba didn’t have the best start to the March international break, with Croatia racing into a 2-0 first-half lead over France in the first leg of their Nations League quarter-final on Thursday.

Didier Deschamps quickly took action, withdrawing Ibrahima Konate from the contest, and France managed the shore things up at the back for the remainder of the match. Konate had conceded a penalty earlier in the half.

But having failed to score in the full 90 minutes, France remained 2-0 down heading into the second leg.

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Deschamps again opted to pick Saliba for the second leg, pairing the defender with Dayot Upamecano on this occasion. Things went much better for the France backline, keeping a clean sheet for the full 120 minutes of a 2-0 win.

With nothing to separate the two sides after extra time, the tie went to penalties. Despite a couple of France misses from Jules Kounde and Theo Hernandez, the team ultimately progressed with a 5-4 victory in the shootout.

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Saliba was likely glad the shootout finally ended after seven takers, as he’s never taken a penalty in a competitive fixture in his senior career.

Mikel Arteta even opted to leave the defender out of January’s shootout against Manchester United, with Arsenal required to drop one player as a result of Diogo Dalot’s red card.

The Frenchman recently joked to Arteta that he could play up front for Arsenal in light of the current injury crisis, but the defender’s primary duties remain at the back. On that front, he did his job once again on Sunday.

Saliba can now look forward to the Nations League semi-finals in June.