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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
George Flood

Kylian Mbappe stars as France smash 14 goals past Gibraltar on record-breaking night

Ruthless France recorded the largest victory in the history of European Championship qualifiers as sorry Gibraltar were simply decimated in Nice.

Star-studded Les Bleus were absolutely relentless during Saturday night's historically one-sided meeting with the winless Group B minnows at Allianz Riviera, smashing in no fewer than 14 total goals in a complete and utter demolition.

Captain Kylian Mbappe helped himself to a hat-trick of both goals and assists to take him to 300 strikes for his career already, while there was also a brace apiece for France's all-time leading scorer Olivier Giroud and Kingsley Coman.

17-year-old Paris Saint-Germain sensation Warren Zaire-Emery also netted on his senior international debut as the youngest player to both feature and score for France in a century, though he was later forced off with an ankle injury that manager Didier Deschamps admitted afterwards "did not look good".

Captain Kylian Mbappe had three goals and three assists on a record-breaking night (REUTERS)

There were also efforts from Marcus Thuram, Jonathan Clauss, Adrien Rabiot and Ousmane Dembele on a memorable night in Nice that saw the hosts leading 7-0 at half-time.

Two-time champions France had already qualified for Euro 2024 following their 2-1 win over the Netherlands in October, with the thrashing of Gibraltar meaning they stay perfect with seven wins from seven in Group B and 27 total goals scored - 16 more than the Dutch, who beat the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in Amsterdam on Saturday to clinch their own spot in Germany next summer.

Gibraltar, meanwhile, have now lost all seven of their qualifiers to date and are without a win of any kind since their pair of friendly victories over Liechtenstein and Andorra last November.

They host the Netherlands in their final qualifier on Tuesday night, while France finish off a truly dominant campaign with a trip to play Greece.

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