France survived an early scare to beat Azerbaijan (1-3) and ensure that they concluded their FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign unbeaten.
Thursday night’s win over Ukraine (4-0) ensured that this game was a dead rubber. Didier Deschamps wrung the changes, opting to start a completely different XI to the one that started on Thursday.
Kylian Mbappé, who some suggest suffered a “diplomatic injury”, didn’t even make the trip to Azerbaijan.
And France fell behind early. Renat Dadashov netted in the fourth minute to give the home side the lead. But Les Bleus quickly levelled. Jean-Philippe Mateta netted his second in a France shirt and in the 30th minute, they took the lead thanks to Maghnes Akliouche’s first goal at international level.
Khéphren Thuram then tapped home from close range, only for his effort to be ruled out by VAR. But France would go in two goals up thanks to a Sahruddin Mehemmedeliyev.
There were no further goals in the second half as Deschamps’ side secured their place in next summer’s World Cup, all while maintaining an unbeaten record.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
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