It took until the 56th minute of their third group game for France to finally get one of their own players on the scoresheet at Euro 2024 – and even then it came from the penalty spot in a dull 1-1 draw against already-eliminated Poland.
Nonetheless, Kylian Mbappe will have been pleased to see his spot kick hit the back of the net having endured a frustrating time of it for France since arriving in Germany for this year’s edition of the tournament.
Expectations were high on both France and Mbappe coming into the tournament, but they suffered the blow of losing their talismanic forward to a broken nose in their 1-0 victory over Austria – a result secured by a Max Wober own goal.
Euro 2024: Previous Winners
Kylian Mbappe finally breaks Euros duck with goal against Poland
That injury kept Mbappe on the bench as an unused substitute for their subsequent goalless draw against the Netherlands, but he was back in Didier Deschamps’ starting line-up to take on Poland.
Surprisingly, despite having scored 12 goals at World Cups to put himself joint-sixth in the tournament standings alongside Pele, Mbappe had never before scored at a Euros…and even missed the decisive spot kick against Switzerland as France were eliminated from Euro 2020 in the round of 16.
In total, Mbappe had taken 20 shots without success before his penalty hit the net against Poland, the most of any French player across European Championships since records began in 1980.
Poland rescued a point via a spot kick of their own, with Robert Lewandowski levelling things up in the 79th minute.
That meant France finished second in their group behind surprise leaders Austria, who deservedly pulled off a 3-2 victory over the Dutch in the other Tuesday teatime game to go top.
That means France are now in the same side of the knockout stage as fellow former Euros winners Germany, Portugal and Spain.
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