Euro 2016: Arsenal player shines against Germany

Laurent Koscielny is having the form of his life with the French team. He has lead the defense of France and has been an unmovable wall. The Arsenal player now awaits the Final after some resilient defending handed them the ticket to Paris.

France defeated Germany 2-0 on a night when Germany looked dangerous for most of the 90 minutes, but some quality defending from France gave them an edge over Germany’s sloppiness in defense.

France has been defensively solid throughout the tournament, courtesy of Koscielny, who has played for the most time among Adil Rami and Umtiti, the other two centre backs. He has featured for 522 minutes in 6 matches with a passing accuracy of 89.1%. His heading duels count to an average of 3.2 duels won per game. Koscielny’s interceptions have been a crucial part of his success in EURO 2016. His absolute reading of the game and maturity has been top notch.

Now that France is in the Final and they will be facing Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal, who himself is having a very quiet tournament. But with the Portuguese talisman ringing the alarm bells in the semi-final against Wales, Koscielny cannot underestimate the danger which Ronaldo brings to the French goal.