France and England shared the points in Ukraine as the two Group D rivals cancelled each other out in a rather dull affair. Joleon Lescott’s header in the first half gave England the lead before Samir Nasri equalized almost immediately for France. Laurent Blanc’s men had most of the pressure in the second half, but Roy Hodgson’s new look side-defended solidly and was probably pleased with the end result.

It was a slow start to a previously classic encounter, England met France for the last time the Three Lions were in the Euro’s but despite scoring in the opening five minutes of their last two major tournaments, Roy Hodgson’s men were happy enough to sit back and counter in the early exchanges. Samir Nasri was seeing the most of the ball and he had the first real chance when he shot wide of Joe Hart’s near post from the edge of the area.

But it was England who probably should have opened the scoring, a thrusting run from the midfield saw James Milner get on the end of Ashley Young’s pass but the Manchester City midfielder slid the ball wide after rounding Hugo Lloris. Yohan Cabaye immediately tested Hart again at the other end but the early exchanges had been fairly even.

But despite the game being played at a slow pace England made the breakthrough on the half-hour mark as Joleon Lescott headed in his first goal for his country from Steven Gerrard’s free-kick. France had perhaps shaded the opening thirty minutes but England’s opener gave them the impetus to attack a French side whose defense looked shaky. But it was the team in blue who almost equalized from their own free-kick, Alou Diarra got on the end of Nasri’s cross and made Hart make a save, before heading the re-bound just wide of the post.

It was a warning sign for England of what the French could do given the chance, the goal stretching the game more and more as France tried to find a response. They soon found it after some neat passing through midfield and it was Samir Nasri who finally beat his City team-mate Joe Hart at the near post. Nasri had looked the biggest threat to England’s defense, time and time again finding space between the midfield and defence.

England managed to get to half-time at 1-1 as France were very much in the ascendancy after the equalizer. It was more of the same after the break as France dominated possession and England was once again happy to sit back and use the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Young to counter the pressure. England did get forward eventually and the referee denied them a free-kick in a good position when Steven Gerrard was clearly brought down on the edge of the French penalty area.

There wasn’t a lot to shout about as the game reached the final 25 minutes, England were still happy to allow France to come at them, but Les Blues couldn’t do anything to break down the water-tight England defense. The French passing game was easy on the eye but wasn’t producing any productivity in the penalty area, Joe Hart only being tested from set-pieces and long range efforts.

England was growing frustrated at France’s possession game, and more so at the referee who seemed reluctant to give England any sort of decision. Roy Hodgson was the first to mix things up with just over ten minutes remaining, Jordan Henderson and Jermain Defoe replacing Scott Parker and Oxlade-Chamberlain respectively.

But it was still France on top, Nasri saw a shot deflected wide before Cabaye also had an effort deflected out from the resulting corner. The game was becoming very stretched and as France looked for a winner, England’s counter attacking tactics came more into play. Laurent Blanc responded to Hodgson’s changes and introduced Hatem Ben Arfa and Marvin Martin to add some more energy with five minutes remaining in Donestk.

But the final few minutes passed by without any real drama, England held off France’s final spell of pressure as the two favourites to progress from Group D sharing a point each.

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Manchester City continued their reversal in fortunes after an unimpressive start to their Champions League campaign, with a 3-0 victory over Villarreal at El Madrigal stadium. Despite having only picked up a single point from their opening two games in the group stage, City has now recorded consecutive victories over Villarreal, and will qualify for the next round of the tournament, should they beat Napoli in the next match.

The Spanish side never looked in control of the game, but were initially encouraged by their defense, which was doing a good job of stifling City’s attacking threats in the opening minutes. Even with Villarreal’s defense on form, they could do very little to prevent City from taking the lead in the 30^th minute.

David Silva managed to break away from his marker, creating space for himself, before squaring the ball to the waiting Yaya Toure, who placed the ball with precision into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. The visitors continued to press their advantage, and were rewarded in the final seconds of the first half when they were awarded a penalty.

Mario Balotelli’s advance into the Villarreal penalty box was brought to a premature end when Mateo Musacchio was judged to have brought down the Italians. The referee then pointed to the spot, and Balotelli picked himself up to dispatch the ball beyond the reaches of Diego Lopez.

The second half brought no respite for Villarreal, as they looked outplayed and outclassed by a City side which were not even performing to their full capability. Indeed, the visitors seemed content to sit back and maintain their two goal lead, instead of pushing to extend their lead.

But City’s class was to surface yet again as goal scorer Balotelli turned provider in the 71^st minute. After receiving the ball from Samir Nasri, Balotelli quickly played the ball onto Toure, who slipped past defender Carlos Marchena, and proceeded to beat Lopez from close range for his second of the night.

While the three goal victory doesn’t do justice to the domination City enjoyed, the win means that City will rise above Napoli in their group, meaning that they require only a victory against the Italian side to ensure their qualification, and will not have to rise to the challenge of beating Bayern Munich in a difficult ending to the group stages.

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