‘Solid, confident’ – Maignan draws praise after clean sheet in France’s win over Belgium

Mike Maignan had a much more calm night for France as they responded to a 3-1 defeat against Italy by beating Belgium 2-0 yesterday.

As Radio Rossonera write, France bounced back after a bad defeat suffered at home against Luciano Spalletti’s Italy, defeating Domenico Tedesco ‘s Belgium 2-0 which meant that Maignan got another clean sheet to his name after getting four at the European Championship.

The result came despite Didier Deschamps deciding not to field Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and Theo Hernandez in the starting line-up, a choice no doubt made to manage their conditions after a busy summer.

As indicated by the stats portal Sofascore, the Rossoneri goalkeeper made four saves, three of which were inside the area and one of which also on Charles De Ketelaere, and it was the best of the bunch.

His distribution was not as good, as Maignan completed 19 passes out of 29 total (66% accuracy) and of 14 long balls, only four were successful. However, the main thing is the clean sheet and he must carry the confidence into league form.

MilanNews gave him a rating of 6.5 out of 10, with the following assessment: ‘Protagonist of a solid, confident match with few risks taken, Maignan is certainly a symbol of Didier Deschamps’ France.

‘In the second half he was able to deflect a dangerous left-footed shot from De Ketelaere into a corner. Furthermore, this evening the number 16 of the Rossoneri earned his first clean sheet of the season.’