The French team made an exciting start to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers by beating Ukraine (2-0) away, their toughest opponent, but lost Ousmane Dembélé to injury during the match on Friday night in Wroclaw, Poland.
Michael Olise's early strike and Kylian Mbappé's goal for Les Bleus handed the 2018 World Cup winners a 2-0 victory over Ukraine as Group D got underway.
"It was an important match because of the limited number of games (to qualify) against a quality team. We could have sealed the deal in the first half because we were in control and created a lot of chances," coach Didier Deschamps said.
"We faltered for four or five minutes in the second half, but the main thing is that we got the result."
Olise started and finished the opening goal on 10 minutes when he released Bradley Barcola down the left flank from deep.
The Bayern Munich man ghosted the length of the pitch to arrive unmarked into the Ukraine box and calmly sweep Barcola's return ball into the bottom corner.
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Olise and half-time substitute Ousmane Dembélé nearly doubled the visitors' lead either side of the break but goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin denied them impressively.
Ukraine responded by coming within inches of levelling the encounter twice inside two minutes after the hour.
Ibrahima Konate first turned a goalbound Artem Dovbyk header off his own goal-line, before new Paris Saint-Germain signing Illia Zabarnyi struck the woodwork with a headed effort following a set-piece.
Praise for Olise
But Mbappé made the win safe for France when he raced onto a pinpoint through-ball from his Real Madrid team-mate Aurelien Tchouameni before cutting inside and rifling home on 82 minutes.
That’s goal number 51 with Les Bleus for Mbappé, who goes level with Thierry Henry as France’s second all-time top scorer.
"It’s an honor to equal a player like Thierry Henry," Mbappé told French TV station TF1.
"Everyone knows what he represents for us French people, and even more so for strikers. He paved the way, he achieved incredible things. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him. To reach this kind of milestone so early is surreal, but I like it and I want to keep going. I don’t want to stop – above all, I want to keep winning matches and winning more titles."
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Deschamps had praise, in particular, for 23-year-old Olise after he netted his third goal in nine outings for Les Bleus.
"Michael is brilliant in everything he does, his movement, his combinations, his passing quality," the coach said.
The Ballon d'Or favorite Dembélé however suffered left thigh discomfort, and came off the pitch clutching the back of his right thigh.
A sign that PSG's very long season, leading up to the Club World Cup final on 13 July, is perhaps taking its toll.
Dembélé "didn't feel anything violent," Deschamps said. "He was in good shape, there wasn't the slightest apprehension about playing him".
On Tuesday, the French team will host the other Group D leader, Iceland, at the Parc des Princes, who outclassed Azerbaijan (5-0), to lay a second stone on their path to the FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Action everywhere
Elsewhere, Gennaro Gattuso enjoyed his start to life as Italy coach on Friday as his team beat Estonia 5-0.
Italy are third in Group I after three matches, six points behind leaders Norway who have played one game more, and boast a superior goal difference.
Denmark and Scotland played out a goalless stalemate in Copenhagen as Group C started, with Greece topping the pool following their 5-1 victory at home to Belarus.
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Switzerland opened Group B with a 4-0 win over Kosovo as group mates Sweden and Slovenia played out a 2-2 draw in Ljubljana.
Former World Cup runners-up Croatia struggled to a 1-0 win away to Faroe Islands to stay second in Group L.
Pool leaders Czech Republic beat third-placed Montenegro 2-0 to remain three points ahead of the Croats, although with two games in hand.
(with AFP)
