Kylian Mbappe scored twice and assisted once in his debut game as France captain on Friday, as the World Cup finalists cruised to a 4-0 win over a depleted Dutch squad in a Euro 2024 qualifier in Paris.
Mbappe took over for long-serving France captain Hugo Lloris, and the new era got off to a flying start with the Paris Saint-Germain superstar setting up the pink-haired Antoine Griezmann to score inside two minutes.
Dayot Upamecano scored the second goal in the eighth minute, and Mbappe added his name to the scoresheet to make it 3-0 before the halftime break.
Mbappe sealed the victory with two minutes remaining, before Memphis Depay of the Netherlands had a stoppage-time penalty saved by goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Didier Deschamps’ side displayed merciless efficiency against a Dutch team that was missing several key players due to a sickness that spread through their camp.
They can at least take solace in the fact that their most difficult task in qualifying Group B is over, and their next game is at home against Gibraltar on Monday.
The French now travel to Dublin to face the Republic of Ireland, but failing to qualify for next year’s Euro will require something extraordinary, given that the top two sides in each group advance.
This was France’s first game since their World Cup final defeat on penalties by Argentina just over three months ago.
There were four changes to Deschamps’ team from that game, with Lloris and centre-back Raphael Varane having retired -– they were honoured on the Stade de France pitch before kick-off -– while Ousmane Dembele is injured and Olivier Giroud started on the bench.
In came AC Milan’s Maignan in goal and Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate in central defence, while there were starts for Kingsley Coman and Randal Kolo Muani, two players who came off the bench in the Doha final.
The Netherlands, with Ronald Koeman back for a second spell as coach, were without Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Sven Botman, Denzel Dumfries and Frenkie de Jong for a variety of reasons.
Ruthless efficiency
France simply blew them away in an astonishing start.
Mbappe has promised to play a unifying role for his country after taking over the captaincy, yet he also confessed that Griezmann was disappointed that Deschamps passed him up for the captaincy.
When Mbappe receives the ball on the left side of the box, he usually shapes to fire into the far corner.
That he didn’t do so in the second minute was telling, as he instead chose to deliver a square pass for Griezmann to finish first time.
Griezmann then set up the second goal, resuming his impressive midfield role from the World Cup.
His whipped free-kick from the right was not dealt with well by Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, allowing Bayern Munich defender Upamecano an easy finish.
The third goal had a touch of class about it, as Kolo Muani’s choice not to touch Aurelien Tchouameni’s through ball completely undid the Netherlands defense, allowing Mbappe to beat the goalkeeper.
France led 3-0 after just 30 minutes, and Koeman made a switch before halftime, replacing Ajax midfielder Kenneth Taylor with Manchester United target man Wout Weghorst.
Only a fine Cillessen save from a Konate header stopped France from scoring again before the break, and substitute Moussa Diaby then had a goal disallowed late on.
However, Mbappe sealed the win two minutes from time, pouncing on a loose ball before firing a shot through the legs of Jurrien Timber and into the bottom corner.
The evening concluded with Maignan stopping Depay’s penalty, which had been awarded for an Upamecano handball.