France beat the Netherlands 4-0 at the Stade de France, Paris, in a Euro 2024 qualifier match on Friday.
The French were quick to show their superiority by taking the lead in the second minute. Captain Kylian Mbappe was the assist provider, giving the ball to Antoine Griezmann, his vice, to whip it past Jasper Cillessen to make it 1-0. The Atletico Madrid man had robbed Kenneth Taylor of the ball, giving it to Randal Kolo Muani, who slid it to Mbappe.
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It was Griezmann’s first goal for France in 17 games. His last goal came in the World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan 16 months ago.
France continued to dominate and scored their second through Dayot Upamecano in the eighth minute. He scored after Griezmann whipped a free-kick into the Netherlands box for the Bayern Munich defender to score his second goal for France.
Mbappe put France three up in the 21st minute. The Paris Saint-Germain star reacted quickly to beat Cillessen from Aurelien Tchouameni’s ball into the box.
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The Netherlands were better in the second half but lacked the cutting edge to threaten Mike Maignan in the French goal. They saw most of the ball, but it was France who threatened more.
They thought they had scored a fourth in the 85th minute through Moussa Diaby, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
New Netherlands coach, Ronald Koeman’s disastrous evening was worsened after Mbappe found Cillessen’s bottom right corner to give France their fourth goal of the night.
Mbappe gladly collected the ball after Memphis Depay mistakenly passed to him, sat down Davy Klaassen with his clever footwork before firing past Cillessen.
Depay’s evening went from bad to worse after he missed from the spot in the final seconds of the game. Upamecano had handled the ball in the box, and referee Maurizio Mariani pointed to the spot.
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However, Maignan saved Depay’s kick and held his follow-up header to complete an embarrassing night for the Netherlands.
The win means the Netherlands have not beaten France at home since 1936.
In the other Group B game, Gibraltar were beaten 3-0 at home by Greece.
Other results
Group E
Czech Republic 3 – 1 Poland
Moldova 1 -1 Faroe Islands
Group F
Austria 4 – 1 Azerbaijan
Sweden 0 – 3 Belgium
Group G
Bulgaria 0 – 1 Montenegro
Serbia 2 – 0 Lithuania
