This night will forever be etched in the hearts of French fans. The French team defeated the 10-man Gibraltar team with a stunning score of 14-0 in the European Cup qualifiers, and Kylian Mbappe even shined with a hat-trick.
The match saw the world’s second-ranked team take on the world’s 198th-ranked country, with the disparity in quality on the pitch between the two teams evident.
According to TiT Sports, this game set a record for the highest winning percentage in the history of qualifying, surpassing the 13-0 victory of the German team against San Marino in 2006. It was also the first time that a European team played in a World Cup or European Cup qualifier. Scored 14 goals.
Kylian Mbappe completed his hat-trick with a long-range shot, taking France’s tally to seven second-half goals on the night against Nice’s Allianz Riviera.
Warren Zaire Emery made history at the age of 17 years, 8 months and 11 days, becoming France’s youngest player since 1914. He scored a goal in the first half of his debut to mark his outstanding performance.
Gibraltar’s night got off to a bad start when Ethan Santos accidentally tipped the ball into his own net after just three minutes. From that point on, things became chaotic for the visitors. Santos was sent off in the 18th minute for a foul on Zaire Emery, leaving the game to end with only the teenager involved.
Scorers for France include Marcus Thuram, Jonathan Krause, Youssef Fofana, Adrien Rabiot and Ousmane Dembélé. Olivier Giroud and Kingsley Coman each contributed two goals.
Didier Deschamps, head coach of the French national football team, said: “Although the number of goals is a complicated issue for us, for example, it has been reduced from 10 to 11, it does not detract from our honor. . Even if our attacking ability could have been more efficient, respecting the opponent and scoring goals are equally important.” TiT Sports reported that “14 years old is already very good.”
The French team took 39 shots in the game, 19 of which were directly on target. In contrast, Gibraltar did not get any chance to kick the ball.
The French team has already secured qualification for Euro 2024 and is at the top of Group B. Gibraltar, on the other hand, are yet to win a game, have zero points and currently sit at the bottom of the table, having failed to score in their qualifying campaign.
