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Onema Geyoro celebrates one of her three goals
Photo:
Dave Thompson/AP
France started the European Championship with a 5-1 win over Italy.
Coach Corinne Diacre's team have thus taken the lead in Group D after Iceland and Belgium shared the points earlier in the evening.
The goals in front of 8,541 spectators at Rotherham's New York Stadium were scored by Onema Geyoro (9th minute, 40th/45th), Marie-Antoinette Katoto (12th) and Delphine Cascarino (38th).
In the final phase, Martina Piemonte scored the goal (76th).
The French are not considered one of the big favorites for the European title for nothing.
Especially on the offensive, there is a lot of quality with Katoto, Kadidiatou Diani (both Paris Saint Germain) and Cascarino (from Champions League winner Olympique Lyon), which would probably have prevailed without Italian help.
However, the first two goals were gifts:
Diani dribbled well down the right, but her cross was inaccurate.
Italy captain Sara Gama failed to hit the ball properly when attempting to clear and Geyoro was able to slot in easily.
Three minutes later it was goalkeeper Laura Giuliani who put the ball in front of Katoto's feet in the six-yard box – and the goalscorer couldn't resist.
At that point, Italy, 2019 World Cup quarter-finalists and a rising force in world football, could have led.
Attacker Barbara Bonansea had the best chance of the game to date, but was denied by goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin – her team-mate at Juventus – from close range (4').
Not much more came from the Italians on the offensive because France continued to whirl after the early lead.
There were no more obvious mistakes, but access was missing in almost all duels.
Cascarino struck from long-range from 18 yards and Geyoro twice completed her hat-trick unchallenged.
Italy coach Milena Bertolini made two substitutions early in the second half.
This stabilized the Azure's performance, although the French also took some of the pace out of their attacking actions.
Captain Gama's frustration over the first half was still noticeable, she initially saw the red card after a hard foul on Geyoro, which referee Rebecca Welch took back after seeing the TV pictures (66th).
Piemonte, who had just come on as a substitute, reduced the score to the end with a header.
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