DÜSSELDORF, Germany
Maximilian Woeber's own goal was enough to give France a winning start to their Euro 2024 campaign on Monday as they edged Austria 1-0 in their opening game but Kylian Mbappe came off late on with a broken nose.
Woeber diverted Mbappe's
cutback into his own net seven minutes before half-time in Duesseldorf to allow
the French, one of the leading contenders to win the tournament, to come
through a stiff test.
Austria have been
much-improved under Ralf Rangnick and they often made life uncomfortable for
the 2022 World Cup runners-up, who saw Mbappe leave the field near the end
after being hurt in a collision.
He had earlier failed to
convert a glorious chance that would have allowed France to win by a wider
margin, and sources close to the player confirmed he had broken his nose in the
accidental clash with Kevin Danso.
"We had the chance to put
the game to bed and it is true that we could have been more precise in attack,
but it's very good to start with a victory," said France coach Didier
Deschamps.
"It is a good habit to
have and we need to try to keep it."
France will be relieved to
have emerged victorious after a build-up overshadowed by talk of politics
rather than football.
Mbappe and other French
players had spent much of their time before the media in recent days answering
questions about upcoming elections in the country which could see the far-right
National Rally become the biggest party.
Any slip-up here would have
led to suggestions their minds had not been fully focused on the competition.
Instead, the result leaves
Deschamps's team level on three points in Group D with the Netherlands, who
defeated Poland 2-1 in Hamburg on Sunday.
France and the Netherlands
meet next in Leipzig on Friday, while Austria face Poland earlier the same day
in Berlin.
"We are obviously
disappointed with the result. No France player scored against us in 100
minutes, just a very unfortunate own goal," said Rangnick.
"I think Didier Deschamps
was really happy when the final whistle came which shows how well my team
played."
Austria had enjoyed some
impressive results coming into the tournament on a seven-game unbeaten run and
their team is on familiar ground during these Euros – their coach Rangnick is
from Germany and eight of their starting line-up played in the German Bundesliga
last season.
The French, however, are
arguably the most talented team at the tournament, led by their captain Mbappe.
He endured a miserable time at
his only previous Euros three years ago, failing to score and missing the
decisive penalty in a shootout defeat by Switzerland in the last 16.
The new Real Madrid signing
will wonder how he did not score in this game, with his first big opportunity
arriving inside eight minutes.
Antoine Griezmann and Theo
Hernandez combined to release Mbappe, who cut in from the left as he loves to
do and shaped to curl a shot into the far corner before instead aiming for the
near post.
However, Austria goalkeeper
Patrick Pentz was able to make the save.
The Austrians settled into the
contest and passed up a wonderful chance of their own to go ahead on 36
minutes.
Skipper Marcel Sabitzer
touched down a Michael Gregoritsch cross from the left for Christoph
Baumgartner, but he was foiled by goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
That proved crucial as France
went ahead two minutes later.
Ousmane Dembele gave the ball
to Mbappe on the right, and he produced a stepover to get to the byline before
his cutback was nodded into the far corner of his own net by the unfortunate
Woeber.
Mbappe was then thwarted by
Pentz as he tried to go around the goalkeeper in first-half stoppage time, but
that was nothing compared to the chance he squandered 10 minutes after the
restart.
Adrien Rabiot sent Mbappe
away, bounding in behind the Austrian defence, but he somehow put his shot wide
with just the goalkeeper to beat.
That left the game in the
balance, and Austria continued to push for a leveller, but without success.
Their fans were less than
impressed by what they perceived as timewasting late on from Mbappe, who needed
treatment after colliding with Kevin Danso in the box.
He left the pitch with his
shirt stained by blood, only to then come back on and sit down, earning himself
a yellow card before being replaced by Olivier Giroud.
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