Warren Zaïre-Emery became France's youngest-ever scorer and Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick as Les Bleus registered their biggest-ever win with a 14-0 defeat of Gibraltar in Saturday's UEFA EURO 2024 qualifier.
THE MATCH
Before kick-off, the news was dominated by Zaïre-Emery, who was named in the starting XI to become the youngest post-war debutant for Les Bleus. The Paris Saint-Germain midfield prodigy was to do even better on his debut appearance as he found the net just 16 minutes in at Nice's Allianz Riviera to match France's winning scoreline from the duo's first-ever meeting back in June and - at 17 years and 255 days - become his country's youngest post-war goalscorer.
It was already the host's third after an Ethan Santos own-goal and Marcus Thuram had put Didier Deschamps' men 2-0 up with just four minutes gone. Gibraltar captain, the 40-year-old Roy Chipolina, must have felt every day of his age.
France had already clinched their place in the finals thanks to six wins from six, and up against an opponent that was rock bottom of Group B with the opposite 100% record, but there was no let-up from the double former European champions as they ensured they would extend their 21-game unbeaten streak and also pick up the two points they needed to secure a place among the top seeds.
An ankle injury led to Zaïre-Emery limping off and Santos being dismissed just 20 minutes in to be replaced by Youssouf Fofana, but it did not knock his team off their stride: Mbappé scored his 44th goal on his 74th international appearance from the penalty spot after Lee Casciaro had handled (30').
Jonathan Clauss netted his first international goal soon after (34') - teed up by Mbappé - and just two minutes later, the France captain was a nuisance in the penalty area before Kingsley Coman scrambled the ball home to make it 6-0 (36').
Sixth seconds later, Mbappé set up another - this time for Fofana to score his first senior international goal (37') - to give Deschamps men a massive, historic seven-goal cushion at the break.
Thuram twice (49', 57') and Antoine Griezmann (53') might have added to the scoreline before Adrien Rabiot did, smashing home the eighth (63') before Coman scored his second of the match, his and Mbappé's pressure leading to an easy finish for the Bayern Munich man (65').
At 9-0 down, Gibraltar then saw Olivier Giroud - France's all-time leading goalscorer - come off the bench to replace Thuram while Ousmane Dembélé swapped places with Coman, and the PSG winger soon made it double figures (73').
Mbappé then added another, firing in at the near post (74') to make it France's biggest win since they defeated Azerbaijan 10-0 in September 1995, and Giroud had an effort ruled out (78') before Mbappé completed his hat-trick thanks to a superb ball from Fofana and a sublime lobbed finish from distance from the PSG superstar (82').
Somehow, France were still not sated. Giroud was picked out by Griezmann to make it an unlucky 13 for Gibraltar (89') and the AC Milan forward then made it 56 goals in 128 matches in added time with a spectacular scissors kick (90+1') to make it a night that will live long in the memory.
THE PLAYER: Kylian Mbappé
The France captain was simply superb, scoring three himself and teeing up a number of others as his team were as ruthless as he usually is.
THE STAT: 71
Mbappé has been involved in 71 goals in his 74 international appearances, scoring 46 times.
