France advanced to the last-16 at Euro 2024 on Tuesday night as the runners-up in Group D following a 1-1 draw with Poland in Dortmund.
France, the highest ranked team in the tournament, went into the game in second place behind the Netherlands and needed a better result than the Dutch to secure pole position.
Skipper Kylian Mbappé – who missed the 0-0 draw against the Netherlands last Friday as he recovered from a broken nose – struck the opener from the penalty spot in the 56th minute.
He ripped off the specially constructed face mask to celebrate the strike with the French fans.
It was the 25-year-old's first goal at a European championships and vindicated the choice of head coach Didier Deschamps to reinstate the forward to the starting line-up.
But France were pegged back in the last 20 minutes. France defender Dayot Upamecano was penalised for fouling Karol Swiderski in the penalty area.
France goalkeeper Mike Maignan saved Robert Lewandowski's penalty low to his right but the kick was retaken as Maignan had strayed from his line.
Lewandowski thrashed in at the second time of asking to notch up the equaliser. Poland held on depsite sustained pressure from the French to earn their first point at the competition .
Regret
"Obviously we wanted to win to win to come first," said Deschamps. "We didn't do that and have to accept that.
"We'll see who we play next but we've qualified for the knockout stages and that's the important thing."
With four points apiece, France and the Netherlands were assured of a place in the last-16 before kick-off on Tuesday night following Albania's defeat to Spain on Monday night.
It was the Netherlands who finished third following a 3-2 defeat to Austria who topped the group and will take on the runner up from Group F next Tuesday.
France will face the runner-up from Group E while the Netherlands will take on the Group F winners Portugal or the winner of Group E.
In Cologne, England claimed Group C following a 0-0 draw with Slovenia who advance to the knockout stages as one of the four best third placed teams.
Denmark's prize for finishing second in the pool will be a Saturday showdown with the Group A winners Germany on Saturday night in Dortmund.
