- In a friendly match, France fought from behind to defeat Scotland 4-1 thanks to two goals from Benjamin Pavard.
- Kylian Mbappe scored a third goal from the penalty spot, and 20 minutes later, substitute Kingsley Coman put the game away.
- The win enabled France to extend their winning streak at home to five games.
In a friendly match on Tuesday at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, France fought from behind to defeat Scotland 4-1 thanks to two goals from Benjamin Pavard.
In his previous 51 international games, the Inter Milan defender had scored just three times, but against the Tartan Army, he did it twice in the first 24 minutes after Billy Gilmour had given the visitors the lead with his maiden goal as a senior.
Before halftime, captain Kylian Mbappe scored a third goal from the penalty spot, and 20 minutes later, substitute Kingsley Coman put the game away with a powerful goal to enable France to extend their winning streak at home to five games.
Kylian Mbappe scored the third goal. Photo/Goal
The two countries entered the match only a few days after clinching their spots in Euro 2024, with France defeating the Netherlands 2-1 on Friday and Scotland receiving a spot in the forthcoming competition in Germany courtesy of Spain’s 1-0 victory over Norway on Sunday.
The France team that defeated the Netherlands had four lineup changes under Didier Deschamps, with Pavard, Eduardo Camavinga, Ousmane Dembele, and Olivier Giroud all getting introduced into the starting XI.
Long lines of fans waiting to enter the Stade Pierre-Mauroy caused the start of the match to be delayed by ten minutes, and additional security measures were put in place as a result of the terrorist attack that took place before Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden in Brussels, which was ultimately abandoned.
France initially had the upper hand, but Scotland took the lead after just 11 minutes when Gilmour took advantage of Camavinga’s errant ball to curl a shot from around 10 yards out into the far corner.
When Pavard towered above the Scotland backline and headed in Antoine Griezmann’s corner at the front post, the hosts quickly reacted effectively and restored parity.
At the 24-minute mark, Pavard, who was paired with Ibrahima Konate at center defense, added another header to his score by capitalizing on Mbappe’s precise cross and beating Kelly from close range.
Ibrahim Konate. Photo/Goal
Two minutes before halftime, VAR intervened to award France a penalty after Liam Cooper grabbed Giroud’s shirt; Kelly managed to get his hand to the resulting spot-kick, but he was unable to stop Mbappe’s potent strike from nestling into the corner. Scotland struggled to recover from this setback.
The second half of the match saw France struggle to maintain their first-half pace, but they eventually regained it. Mbappe and Griezmann in particular posed a menace in the final third.
Marcus Thuram and Coman, two substitutes, however, were the ones who settled the game. Thuram surged down the left wing and drilled a low cross towards Griezmann, who somehow managed to guide a shot against the post, and Coman blasted a first-time attempt off the crossbar in the 70th minute.
Thuram almost added to the scoring 10 minutes from the end when his soaring effort clipped the crossbar after sprinting clear through on goal, but France finally cruised to a comfortable victory, even though they faced a significantly altered Scotland team.
On November 18, France will play a home Euro 2024 qualifier against Gibraltar, while Scotland will host Norway.
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