Kylian Mbappe’s second-half penalty was enough for France to labour to victory over ten-player Greece at Stade de France in Euro 2024 qualifying on Monday night.
The PSG forward netted from the spot after Konstantinos Mavropanos kicked Antoine Griezmann in the face and the former Arsenal defender was later sent off for bringing down Randal Kolo Muani as the last defender.
Guy Poyet’s Greece had earned victories over Gibraltar and the Republic of Ireland to sit near the top of Group B, though France went strong with their XI as Kolo Muani joined Mbappe and Kingsley Coman in attack.
Greece rode the wave of French pressure before forcing their first corner of the game, but no chance arrived. Kolo Muani then headed wide from Antoine Griezmann’s clip a few minutes later.
Les Bleus exerted some early pressure as Kolo Muani’s cross reached Hernandez at the back past, but the full back’s two shots were blocked before Mbappe cleared the goal with a chance from a second successive corner.
Mbappe saw three appeals for penalties turned down by Antonio Mateu Lahoz – the busy Spaniard was officiating his final game – while a long passage of build-up ended with Coman picking out Jules Kounde at the back post, though the Barcelona defender’s effort was too meek to open the scoring.
Greece’s clean sheet hopes went up in smoke as Mavropanos caught Griezmann with a high boot in the box, cutting the Atletico Madrid man open as Lahoz pointed to the spot.
Mbappe’s first penalty was saved but encroachment saw it retaken and no mistake was made on the second attempt, picking out the top corner.
Mavropanos’ second yellow card saw him dismissed to make France’s task of seeing out the final moments without too much risk as Griezmann came close from a free kick and Ousmane Dembele enjoyed himself from the subs bench.
France are now six points clear at the top of Group B having played a game more than Greece and Ireland, with the Netherlands fourth having only played twice.
GK: Mike Maignan – 7/10 – Made a couple of diving stops and never really looked like being beaten.
RB: Jules Kounde – 7/10 – Arrived on the edge of one cross but couldn’t convert with conviction.
CB: Ibrahima Konate – 8/10 – Took responsibility in central defence with Upamecano, shutting the door in the Greek attackers’ faces time and time again.
CB: Dayot Upamecano – 8/10 – Similarly authoritative alongside Konate in a centre back partnership set to stand for years.
LB: Theo Hernandez – 7/10 – Goal threat was limited as both his shots were blocked but had little defensively to worry about.
CM: Aurelien Tchouameni – 7/10 – Happy to turn easily past pressing Greece midfielders.
CM: Eduardo Camavinga – 7/10 – Also excellent dribbling in the middle of the park, though he did make a couple of sloppy fouls.
RW: Kingsley Coman – 6/10 – Only delivered one accurate cross from his five attempts and wasn’t too interested in dribbling.
AM: Antoine Griezmann – 7/10 – Scurried around in his deeper role linking play and disrupting any rhythm Greece attempted to build.
LW: Kylian Mbappe – 7/10 – Might have dragged France further clear had some dribble attempts come off. Eventually scored from the spot but not at his clinical best.
ST: Randal Kolo Muani – 6/10 – Lost the ball a little too often in attacking build-up and squandered a few chances in front of goal.
Substitutes
Ousmane Dembele (77′ for Coman) – 7/10 – Added more zest to France’s attack from the bench.
Olivier Giroud (86′ for XX) – N/A
Christopher Nkunku (86′ for Griezmann) – N/A
Manager
Didier Deschamps – 6/10 – Couldn’t get much attacking fluidity out of his XI and left it late before making changes.
GK: Odisseas Vlachodimos (6); RB: George Baldock (7), CB: Konstantinos Mavropanos (5), CB: Pantelis Hatzidiakos (7), LB: Kostas Tsimikas (6); CM: Manolis Siopis (6), CM: Dimitrios Kourbelis (7); RW: Giorgos Masouras (7), AM: Anastasios Bakasetas (6), LW: Petros Mantalos (7); ST: Georgios Giakoumakis (6).
Player of the match – Dayot Upamecano (France)
