Dream goals and a debut: France's 14:0 spectacle
Records, dream goals and a curious debut: the 14:0 victory of France's soccer stars against Gibraltar set a number of new records. Never before has a European national team scored 14 goals in qualifying for a European Championship or World Cup.
The team led by superstar Kylian Mbappé thus overtook the DFB team, which won 13-0 in San Marino in the European Championship qualifiers in September 2006. "Fourteen is not bad," said national coach Didier Deschamps with a grin. "It was a perfect evening."
Praise for Mbappé
The runners-up had never scored more than ten goals before. France's previous highest victory came in September 1995 in the European Championship qualifier against Azerbaijan with a 10-0 win.
In addition to the records, the Équipe Tricolore impressed with dream goals. Mbappé scored from over 40 meters. With his treble, the 24-year-old goalscorer has now scored 300 competitive goals. Neither Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo nor Neymar have managed that at this age. "He is perfect in his role as captain," enthused Deschamps about his top player.
The 37-year-old Olivier Giroud ended the goal festival with a successful overhead kick in stoppage time. Bayern Munich's Kingsley Coman also scored twice.
The youngest debutant
France's top talent Warren Zaïre-Emery celebrated an unusual debut. At 17 years, eight months and ten days, the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder is the youngest debutant in almost 110 years. Zaïre-Emery scored his first international goal in the 16th minute.
However, his goal was the end of the game for the youngster. He was injured by a hard foul from Gibraltar defender Ethan Santos during a shot on goal and had to be substituted. Santos was also shown the red card. Deschamps gave the first good signals directly after the game. "Fortunately, it's not very serious," said the France coach about the injury. "It's a big sprain, but the ligaments are not affected."
Kylian Mbappe's impressive performance in the European Championship qualification match against Gibraltar included scoring from over 40 meters, bringing his total of competitive goals to 300 before the age of 24. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery, at just 17 years, 8 months, and 10 days old, became the youngest debutant in nearly 110 years, scoring his first international goal before getting injured in the game.
Source: www.dpa.com
