Spain reveal plan to stop France's star-studded attack

Spain winger Alex Baena has revealed the game plan against France’s fearsome front four, saying they will keep the ball, control the tempo and force the danger back towards their opponents.

Baena said Spain obviously have respect for one of the tournament's favourite teams, and their fearsome attacking line of Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele and either Desire Doue or Bradley Barcola. But the Spaniard insisted they would not sit back and wait for the storm in Tuesday's clash.

"The four up front are having a great tournament and we will have to keep an eye on them. But we will try to make them watch us more than we watch them," Baena told reporters on Monday.

"Our strength is having the ball, having a lot of possession to attack and to make sure they attack us as little as possible. Hopefully, tomorrow it will be like that too."

The approach reflected Spain’s strategy when they came out victorious in the Euros and Nations League semi-final against Didier Deschamps' team.

Baena said they would again go with the same game plan, but warned that history would not do any tackling for them.

"It is true that we come from two matches in which we beat them, and that suited us, but every match is a world of its own," he said. "They are having a spectacular tournament."

France, the 2018 World Cup champions and 2022 runners up, defeated Morocco 2-0 in the quarter-finals, while Spain overcame Belgium 2-1 to reach the semi-finals.