It was a bright start as the captain for Kylian Mbappe as the captain of France, with the 24-year-old forward scoring twice as the FIFA World Cup 2022 finalists thrashed the Netherlands 4-0 during their Euros 2024 Qualifiers on Friday (March 24) night. After early goals by Antoine Griezmann and Dayot Upamecano, the Paris St. Germain (PSG) forward took apart what little was left of the Dutch defence to score on either side of the half.
Both goals were pure class by the French forward. The first one was a well-placed pass that was deflected into the path of an onrushing Mbappe, who managed to keep himself onside to slot the ball home past goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen.
See the first goal here.
With the team cruising at 3-0, the match was already done and dusted for the 2018 World Cup champions, but Mbappe was not done embarrassing the Netherlands defenders. For the second goal, the striker floored two separate defenders with fake shots.
It was Depay sloppy pass backwards that found Mbappe, who teased Jurrien Timber and Daley Blind before firing across Cillessen to make it 4-0 in the 88th minute, while Depay saw his stoppage-time penalty saved by Maignan to wrap up a miserable game for the Dutch.
Speaking after the match, France head coach Didier Deschamps was proud of his team's performance. “There were a lot of positive vibes when they all gathered on Monday and I wanted them to transfer those vibes onto the pitch and that’s what they all did,” coach Deschamps told a news conference.
“It was a great night, in a great atmosphere, with a very good start. Leading the Netherlands 3-0 so quickly is not nothing even though they were missing a lot of players. In the second half we were still threatening even if we were just happy with controlling the game,” he added.
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