France he put on the candidate’s suit and confirmed that his power is in force by thrashing Netherlands 4-0 in a match valid for the first date of Group B of the Eurocup Qualifiers to be played in Germany in 2024.
At the Stade de France, those led by Didier Deschamps gave a forceful demonstration of their power already in the first half, when they put themselves three goals up with the celebrations of Antoine Griezmann, from Atlético de Madrid; Dayot Upamecano, from Bayern Munich; and Kylian Mbappé, from Paris Saint Germain.
The striker himself, scorer of the last Qatar 2022 World Cup, sealed the victory, with a score two minutes from closing.
Mbappé broke a record by scoring 20 goals in the last 17 games for the French representative. In the Dutch team, meanwhile, Ronald Koeman (Louis van Gaal’s replacement) debuted as coach.
In addition, Memphis Depay, from Atlético de Madrid, missed a penalty in the 95th minute for the Netherlands team, according to ‘L’Equipe’
The one who did have a successful debut on the substitute bench was the German Doménico Tedesco at the helm of the Belgian team that -in Solna- thrashed Sweden 3-0 in group F.
The star of the evening was striker Romelu Lukaku, from Inter Italy, who scored all three goals for the Belgians.
Tedesco, who had a successful stint at Schalke 04, Spartak Moscow and RB Leipzig, replaced Roberto Martínez, who left his position following the Qatar 2022 World Cup and took over as coach of Portugal.
The results in the other matches of the day were as follows:
- Group B: Gibraltar 0-Greece 3.
- Group G: Bulgaria 0- Montenegro 1; Serbia 2- Lituania 0.
- Group E: Czech Republic 3- Poland 1; Moldova 1- Faroe Islands 1.
- Group F: Austria 4- Azerbaijan 1.
