Euro 2020 - 'The monster that scares a continent' - Why Didier Deschamps' France are better than ever

Welcome back to Inside Europe, where we give you the lowdown on the latest goings-on across the continent as Euro 2020 continues.

In this edition we are focusing on the world champions, who got their campaign off to a good start by beating former world champs Germany 1-0 on Tuesday night.

We asked our colleague at Eurosport France, Maxime Dupuis, about how good that performance was, and why this France side are now better than ever...

On Tuesday night, the French team beat Germany by mastering the key moments throughout the game.

Les Bleus did what they wanted with their first opponents in the European Championship. This team is stronger on paper, but also on the field, where it dictates the tempo and meaning of the game.

It is the story of a team that knows where it is going, has already managed to put the world at its feet, and has the ambition to do the same with Europe. The conquest began on Tuesday in Germany.

In Munich, there were no complications: the world champions came, they saw, they won.

They did it according to their rules, and a scenario mastered from A to Z. And even beyond. The impression made by Les Bleus on the lawn of the Allianz-Arena is something fascinating.

The plan was simple: leave the ball to the Germans, wait for them and counter them. Easy. Didier Deschamps and his men executed it perfectly and, bar one or two decisions on the ball, there was little to complain about.

The performance of the world champions was akin to a masterclass of the most accomplished sides. Perhaps the most accomplished of the Deschamps era. Nothing more. No less.

In Russia in 2018, in Yekaterinburg against Peru (1-0) or, of course, against Belgium in St. Petersburg (1-0), the Tricolores had given more than a glimpse of what they achieved on Tuesday in Munich. Namely a team sure of its strength, disciplined to a person, waiting and hitting at the right time.

Against Germany, Les Bleus did even better, conceding virtually no chances to their opponents. Or just one, because no one is perfect. The world champions have risen to the next level. One could argue that they have reached the ultimate level, but that would be to doubt them.

In our recent exclusive interivew, Didier Deschamps explained that against the Belgians in the semi-finals of the World Cup, his team had retreated more than reasonable but that he had let it happen. On Tuesday, his players put their feet in concrete and hoisted up a wall against the Germans who, it should be pointed out, did not necessarily disappoint. But there was not much to do against this team that played cat and mouse with the Nationalmannschaft, inexorably luring them into their trap and giving them him back, sometimes voluntarily, the ball.

France were mocked by some observers and supporters - especially between competitions, which was surprising

They said that France and Deschamps were unambitious, that their approach to the game is minimalist and little in line with the individual power it is endowed with.

Meanwhile the French team continued to grow. A team of already crazy maturity during the World Cup when it presented a tiny average age for a future master of the world.

France has taken the medicine for three years until becoming a monster that frightened the continent before having put a foot on the ground.

On Tuesday, they put both feet on the meadow. And Europe is quaking.

Next stop Budapest, Saturday against Hungary. We can't wait to be there.