EDUARDO CAMAVINGA BECAME France’s youngest international in 106 years as les Bleus won a repeat of the 2018 World Cup final in a 4-2 Nations League victory over Croatia on Tuesday.
Midfielder Camavinga, aged 17 years and nine months, replaced Ngolo Kante at the Stade de France in the second half and is only surpassed by Julien Verbrugghe, aged 16 years and 10 months in 1906, and Maurice Gastiger, at 17 years and 4 months in 1914.
Didier Deschamps’ World Cup winners are second on goal difference in Group A behind Portugal who beat Sweden 2-0 as Cristiano Ronaldo crossed the 100-goal mark for his country.
Deschamps made seven changes from Saturday’s win in Solna with Wissam Ben Yedder and Anthony Martial leading the attack after Kylian Mbappe contracted Covid-19.
Antoine Griezmann, Dayot Upamecano, Olivier Giroud as well as an own goal from the visitors’ goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic secured a repeat result from Russia two years ago.
Former Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren opened the scoring for the visitors in a near-empty ground due to the coronavirus pandemic with a half-volleyed effort inside the hosts’ box after a quarter of an hour of play.
The touch. 💯
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) September 8, 2020
The finish. 💥
This is some goal by Dejan Lovren!#NationsLeague | #VMSport pic.twitter.com/zNnUsFcS7Z
Griezmann, who missed a penalty in the weekend’s victory, equalised with two minutes of the first half remaining by side-footing home Martial’s low cross.
Manchester United’s Martial was involved in the next les Bleus goal a minute into injury time.
Dominik Livakovic fumbled Martial’s attempt into his goal after Ben Yedder’s dangerous ball.
Livakovic OG...
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) September 8, 2020
Martial's shot bounced back off the post onto the goalkeeper's head and into the net!#NationsLeague | #VMSport pic.twitter.com/CJq8Z3IHMb
The sides were equal once again 10 minutes into the second half as Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic split the home side’s defence in half with a tidy through ball.
Substitute Josip Brekalo held up possession well before sliding his effort past Hugo Lloris.
Camavinga’s historic moment came 27 minutes from time as he substitued Chelsea’s Kante.
Deschamps’ side claimed all three points with two goals in the final 25 minutes.
Upamecano claimed the third goal, and his first in international football, with a header from a Griezmann corner.
Chelsea’s Giroud then converted a 77th-minute penalty for the fourth before France closed out the game.
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Would be great for the league of Ireland if they progresed
FH looked an average loi team who got a goal against the run of play last week. We were the better team but they might have been keeping it tight.. but if they play like they did last wed and we play like we can then we will advance.. i firmly believe we will score tonight. Garts is a massive loss in the centre of defence but barrett is a good replacement… we are playing FH for €1.2m and a guaranteed 4 more games minimum in Europe.
Who’s we ?!
“We”… Are Ireland’s number one. The Black & White army.
Not doubting you. They really are Ireland’s number 1. Just asked for the craic because my uncle always mocks me when I use ‘we’ when talking about cork city lol
Massive game for Fundalk given the money at stake , great for the town and club . Really well run club these days with a super manager leading the team. Cmon da town !!
Get the name right pal. They’re fun to watch but I wouldn’t go that far
Says the plastic Irish supporter. Take down that Irish cover photo please if your not willing to support your own Irish league.
I’m supporting them no doubt.
Disappointed there isn’t a LIVE ticker thread for this game. It’s only the champions of Ireland playing in the world’s most lucrative competition. RTE not broadcasting it is a disgrace. And they claim to be supporters of domestic football. (Yes I know it’s on Eir Sport).
Dundalk playing some nice football here, they’ve been the better team so far, unlucky to be behind. Horgan & McMillan are doing very well. They’re just lacking a bit of composure in the final third.
Still nothing up about the match tonight disgraceful from the 42
And still nothing. Surely a live ticker wasn’t beyond them. They are the champions of Ireland and our only representatives in champions league. Fair dues to Eir for covering it, super game and even better performance from Dundalk.