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France's goalscorers in victory over Austria: Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappé
Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP
With just two points from four games, France were bottom of Group A1 of the Nations League against penultimate Austria.
Against Ralf Rangnick's Austrians, who were overwhelmed in long stretches, the world champion won with a class difference of 2:0 (0:0) and underlined his claim to the top group.
In St. Denis, superstar Kylian Mbappé gave the French the lead with a remarkable solo through the defensive line and a shot into the left angle (56th).
Olivier Giroud then made it 2-0 (65').
Ex-Bremer Marko Arnautovic had played his 103rd international for the Austrians and drew level with record player Andreas Herzog.
In Group A1, the Equipe Tricolore (five points) now relegated Austria (four points) to last place.
The decision about relegation will be made on Sunday (8.45 p.m., TV: Dazn) when France travels to Denmark and the Austrians meet vice world champions Croatia.
Croatia had taken the lead in the table with a 2-1 (0-0) win over rival Denmark.
Netherlands just before group victory
Meanwhile, the Dutch also won 2-0 (1-0) against Poland around world footballer Robert Lewandowski in Warsaw and are about to advance to the final round in Group A4.
There, Elftal (13 points) is three points ahead of Belgium, who won 2-1 (2-0) against Wales, but only have a theoretical chance of reaching the finals.
Cody Gakpo (13th), who was being courted by numerous top clubs in the summer, scored for the Dutch before Steven Bergwijn (60th) got the final score.
In the parallel game in Brussels, star playmaker De Bruyne (10th) from Manchester City first scored the lead and later made it 2-0 through former Dortmund player Michy Batshuayi (37th).
Kieffer Moore (50th) shortened for the Welsh.
Turkey averts disgrace and rises
National coach Stefan Kuntz and the Turkish national team delivered a real spectacle, returning to the B-League with a wild 3:3 (2:2) against Luxembourg.
In Istanbul, the Turks, who are absent in Qatar, came back from three deficits and just avoided an embarrassment.
For Turkey, Cengiz Ünder equalized with a penalty (16) and Ismail Yüksek (87'), in the meantime Maxime Chanot from Luxembourg scored an own goal (39').
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