'Shining brightly in sunny Portugal'

France's exceptional performances at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Portugal have not gone unnoticed by the media back home where enthusiastic praise of René Girard's side stands in contrast to the negative press that the senior team has been attracting.

'Faultless'
"Les Bleus looking pale" read Sunday's headline in sports daily L'Equipe following France's FIFA World Cup preparation game against Mexico. It was a different story 24 hours later after Les Bleuets had beaten Serbia and Montenegro 2-0 in Braga, ensuring that they finished top of Group A with a 100 per cent record. "Faultless" was L'Equipe's headline on this occasion. "Perfection might not exist but the France Espoirs haven't been far off it this week," the article read. "France arrived in Portugal with some question marks... but they will be feeling reassured and fulfilled now. They have passed the first phase without any difficulty, winning three games, conceding no goals and scoring six through six different players."

'Perfect example'
Even Le Monde, a newspaper less dedicated to sports coverage, ran a sizeable report on the U21s, who they said are "shining brightly in sunny Portugal". France have made a strong impression with their free-flowing, passing style, and Le Parisien was especially positive in its appraisal of Sunday's game. "Les Bleuets again demonstrated their ability to keep possession and launch smooth, fast counterattacks with one-touch passing," it wrote. "The second goal scored by the stand-in captain Jérémy Toulalan was the perfect example." France will be hoping their perfect form continues in the semi-finals on Thursday when they will meet Group B runners-up the Netherlands.

'Hard work'
The Dutch passage was far from smooth, with substitute Daniël de Ridder heading the only goal against Italy to send his side through at the holders' expense on the head-to-head rule after the countries were locked on four points. De Volkskrant felt "the escape was as lucky as it was unjustified", while rival newspaper De Telegraaf decreed that the victory in Aveiro was "late but deserved", adding: "The Jong Oranje grabbed their final chance with both hands, achieving it more through hard work than quality football."