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Football

14th Oct 2018

WATCH: France squad mock Ousmane Dembele after Kylian Mbappe’s skill causes him to slip

Simon Lloyd

Having won their country’s second World Cup in Russia over the summer, there’s no doubting that the current crop of French players are a talented bunch

What’s also clear is that the group have a particularly close bond with one another.

A reminder of their excellent team spirit came from one of their training sessions this week, as they prepared for their Uefa Nations League meeting with Germany.

Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele was one of those tasked with closing his teammates down during a rondo drill. The ball arriving at Kylian Mbappe’s feet, Dembele slipped as the Paris Saint-Germain striker lifted the ball over him.

Coming to a stop at the feet of N’Golo Kante, Dembele’s slip was a source of great amusement for the rest of the French squad, as the footage below shows.

Mbappe seems particularly pleased with himself, instantly running away in celebration.

France drew their friendly with Iceland earlier in the week, salvaging a two-goal deficit in the last four minutes of the game thanks to an own goal from Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson and a stoppage time penalty from Mbappe.

Since winning the World Cup in Moscow in July, Didier Deschamps men have accumulated four points from a possible six in their opening Nations League matches. A 2-1 win in their opener against the Netherlands in Paris was followed by a goalless draw with Germany Munich.

Germany were beaten 3-0 by the Dutch in  the Amsterdam  ArenA on Saturday night, a result which means France remain top of Nations League group A1 with all sides now having played two games each.