France's players arrived at the current European Championship qualifying break without pressure. They qualified for the Euros last month and knew that the pair of games that await them against Gibraltar and Greece are mainly to keep connecting, to integrate young players who have not seen too many minutes so far and especially to delight their fans and fans. They had a great time on Saturday as they recorded their biggest Euro qualifying victory with a 0-14 victory over little Gibraltar in Nice.
"The promenade of France," read the cover of the newspaper L'Equipe this morning to mark the historic evening, which recorded quite a few milestones for a number of players. Kylian Mbappé scored three goals (including a goal from 40 yards) and also assisted three goals, reaching 300 career goals, surpassing Griezmann (44) in the French team's all-time scoring chart and climbing to third place (46). Olivier Giroud also scored a pair to increase the gap on the tricolour's all-time top scorers with 56, Antoine Griezmann cooked up his 30th goal for the national side and another young man also entered the record book.
Not even a shot on target for Gibraltar 😬
🇫🇷 France 14:0 Gibraltar 🇬🇮
📸: FEP (Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/0iYyfBMiAr
— Sports Brief (@sportsbriefcom) November 18, 2023
Warren Zaire-Emery, aged 17 years and 255 days, became the youngest goalscorer of the tricolour since 1911 after scoring in the 16th minute and making his debut in his first ever call-up to the senior team. Unfortunately, during the occupation he suffered a severe blow and was replaced, but left an impression on the journalists. "In 15 minutes, he was able to show what a football star he is," CBS reported.
🇫🇷 France 14-0 Gibraltar 🇬🇮
☑️Plus large victoire de l'équipe de France
☑️ 300eme but pour Mbappé en carrière
☑️ 1ere sélection et premier but pour Zaïre-Emery
☑️ 1er but de Fofana
☑️ 1er but de Clauss
...
😱 Ce France - Gibraltar était bien LE match de tous les records !!! ... pic.twitter.com/hcqArzGO8w
— beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) November 18, 2023
It looked to quite a few spectators that France would take their foot off the gas in the second half after going into the break with a 0-7 advantage, but defender Jean-Claire Todibo told what the players said to each other at rest. "We played our football and these are the results. We weren't aware before the game of the highs, we weren't focused on winning 0-14, but at half-time it went up and we said to ourselves, 'Why not?' We knew what we had to do and that's what we did. We didn't want to give the opponent any chance, even though at some point we knew they no longer had hopes. We didn't want to let them score because one of the goals was to keep a clean sheet."
The hottest sports articles and updates on your Telegram
Did we make a mistake? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us