Deschamps delighted to keep Ronaldo quiet in goalless draw

Didier Deschamps applauded his players for keeping Cristiano Ronaldo quiet but conceded his side were short of their best in France's 0-0 draw with Portugal on Sunday night.

Portugal and France play out low-key affair

The two teams remain locked together at the top of Nations League Group A3 on seven points each after playing out a goalless draw at the Stade de France, which housed 1,000 socially distanced fans. It was the first meeting between the sides since Portugal's triumph in the Euro 2016 final, but the contest failed to deliver much in the way of drama. Ronaldo saw a late strike repelled by Hugo Lloris in what was a largely underwhelming clash between the champions of the world and the champions of Europe.

"We can always do better," admitted Les Bleus boss Deschamps. "With the quality of the opponent we took precautions, we did not see Ronaldo this evening. It was more difficult for the attacking units in this game. Sometimes it is the movements that are not good, sometimes the passes do not arrive. We have to do better in the last move to win the match."

France keep it solid at the back

Deschamps was keen to highlight the excellent defensive work of both teams in shutting out two line-ups full of attacking quality. "We knew that Portugal was a great team, we must rather talk about the defensive quality of the two teams," he said. "The midfielders were very efficient in terms of technical accuracy... they allowed us to have more control, especially in the second half."

Next up for France is Wednesday's match away to Croatia in Zagreb.