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Kingsley Coman

Santos credits Deschamps' team selection in deserved France win

Les Bleus beat Portugal 1-0 in Lisbon, gaining a small measure of revenge after losing the Euro 2016 final to Santos' side on home soil and advancing to the Nations League Finals at the expense of the holders.

Although Anthony Martial had a series of early chances and finished with five shots, the sole goal in the Group A3 fixture came courtesy of N'Golo Kante.

Cristiano Ronaldo was wasteful at the other end, failing to hit the target with five of his six efforts, but it was out wide where Santos felt France gained the upper hand.

Kingsley Coman started up front in the absence of the injured Kylian Mbappe, but Didier Deschamps stationed the winger mainly from the right, directly up against left-back Raphael Guerreiro.

Guerreiro – a key player in attack for Portugal – created three chances but only one in the first half, with six minutes played.

The versatile Borussia Dortmund man and Coman, who was replaced after 59 minutes, largely nullified each other as neither completed a dribble while making one tackle apiece.

However, Coman's dangerous 10th-minute warning shot, which Rui Patricio saved, posed a problem for Portugal, Santos conceded.

"France were better during the first half," the Portugal coach said. "They did what we wanted to do.

"We wanted not to leave them any spaces, not to let them play. We know that it's a team that is capable of getting players in front of goal.

"We managed to do it for 10 minutes and then we had a lot of difficulties. We retreated and France took advantage.

"Placing Coman always on the right was perhaps one of the first causes of our difficulties. This prevented Guerreiro from having the same influence.

"But if we couldn't get down one side, we should have switched to the other and passed between the lines. We did not succeed, unlike what we had done in Paris [a goalless draw].

"France were better. Getting to the break at 0-0 was not quite fair for them. We made a good start in the second half but we conceded a goal.

"It was only then that the team freed themselves. We got three or four chances. But, in general, France deserve their victory."

Tuchel replicates Beckenbauer feat and Coman maintains title run: The Opta facts behind Bayern's Bundesliga triumph

This time around, it was Borussia Dortmund's turn to lament the most galling of near misses, while their rivals lifted the Meisterschale following Jamal Musiala's late winner at Koln.

The most topsy-turvy title race in Europe's top-five leagues this campaign, therefore, ended in familiar fashion, with Bayern maintaining their stranglehold on the German crown.

After Bayern overcame a stern Dortmund challenge to win their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title, Stats Perform looks at the best facts and figures to emerge from their triumphant campaign.

The headline stats

There has never been much doubt regarding Bayern's status as the dominant force in Germany. Their latest title win represents their 33rd overall, and their 32nd since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963. Combined, all other clubs in Bundesliga history have 28.

Meanwhile, Bayern's current streak of 11 consecutive domestic titles is the longest such run in the history of Europe's top five leagues.

However, as the decision to dispense with Julian Nagelsmann's services and bring in Thomas Tuchel in March would suggest, this has not been a vintage campaign for Bayern.

Having edged out Dortmund on goal difference after both teams finished with 71 points, Bayern's class of 2022-23 collected the fewest points of any Bundesliga-winning team since 2009-10, when Die Roten were crowned champions with 70.

Bayern's tally of 21 victories this term was actually bettered by Dortmund (22), who became just the second team in the three-points-for-a-win era to boast the most wins in a Bundesliga season and not win the title (after Leverkusen in 1996-97).

Tuchel takes the prize

While Tuchel's Bayern did not get close to the incredible point tallies recorded under Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola or Carlo Ancelotti, the new boss did enough, rallying his team to collect 12 from their final five matches and pip his former employers at the last.

Tuchel became only the second coach to take over a Bundesliga club during the second half of a season and lead them to the title, after the legendary Franz Beckenbauer did so with Bayern in 1993-94.

While Beckenbauer took the reins from matchday 21 of that campaign, Tuchel did so from matchday 26 this term, making it the latest managerial change from a Bundesliga-winning team.

Muller extends his record, Musiala the main man

Bayern's last-gasp triumph also ensured several key players kept up their own incredible records of domestic success.

While attacking stalwart Thomas Muller won a record-extending 12th German title, Kingsley Coman – who opened the scoring in Bayern's final-day win at Koln – preserved his record of finishing every season of his professional career as a domestic champion.

Having won Ligue 1 twice with Paris Saint-Germain and Serie A as a Juventus player in 2014-15, Coman has now lifted the Meisterschale eight times during his spell in Bavaria.

Those records, however, owe everything to Musiala's intervention against Koln, with the 20-year-old stepping off the bench to fire into the bottom-right corner as stoppage time loomed.

That strike was his 12th of the Bundesliga campaign, one more than he had managed in 57 combined appearances in the competition before this season.

It was a fitting way for Musiala to cap a season in which only Eintracht Frankfurt's Randal Kolo Muani (26) bettered his tally of 22 Bundesliga goal contributions.