Image: APA/AFP/FRANCK FIFE
Image: APA/AFP/FRANCK FIFE
Never before has a European national team scored 14 goals in qualifying for a European Championship or World Cup. The team around superstar Kylian Mbappé replaced the DFB team, which won the European Championship qualifiers 13-0 in San Marino in September 2006. “14 isn’t bad,” said national coach Didier Deschamps with a smile. “It was a perfect evening.”
The current runner-up world champion has never scored more than ten goals before. France achieved their biggest win to date in September 1995 in the European Championship qualifiers when they beat Azerbaijan 10-0.
In addition to the records, the Équipe Tricolore impressed with dream goals. Mbappé scored from over 40 meters and with his hat-trick, the 24-year-old striker has now scored 300 competitive goals. Neither Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo nor Neymar could do that at that age. “He is perfect in his role as captain,” enthused Deschamps about his top player.
Image: APA/AFP/FRANCK FIFE
37-year-old Olivier Giroud ended the goal festival with an overhead kick in stoppage time. Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman also scored twice. And France’s top talent Warren Zaïre-Emery made an unusual debut: at 17 years, eight months and ten days, the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder is the youngest newcomer in almost 110 years. In the 16th minute, Zaire-Emery scored his first international goal.
However, with his goal, the game was over for the youngster. A hard foul by Gibraltar’s defender Ethan Santos while shooting on goal injured him and had to be substituted. Santos was shown a red card.
Norway not at the European Championships
There is great disillusionment in Norway after Erling Haaland’s national team’s last chance at the European Championship vanished into thin air through no fault of their own. With Israel’s 2-1 defeat against Romania on Saturday, the team, which can no longer overtake Spain and Scotland in qualifying group A, no longer needs to hope for a ticket through the Nations League play-offs. Norway has only qualified for a European Championship in 2000.
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I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
