France 14-0 Gibraltar: Kylian Mbappe-led side secure record victory over minnows Gibraltar, Zaire Emery creates history
France have dominated over lowly European side Gibraltar with a record 14-0 victory, which had nine different goal scorers on the list. This thumping win by the former World Champions have seen several records broken, with Mbappe entering into the chart of 300 goals, and PSG young gun Warren Zaire-Emery scoring on the 16th minute of his debut, before being subbed off due to a potential injury.
France mauls lowly Gibraltar
France has showcased the entire world about their talent and goal scoring prowess when they defeated European minnows Gibraltar on their seventh match week. With 2018 World Champions France already qualified for next summer’s European tourney in Germany, the game against Gibraltar was just a walk in the park for Didier Deschamps’ men. They decided to go with a full-throng attack, with new entrants in the squad in the form of PSG youngster Warren Zaire-Emery, who have impressed this season in the PSG midfield owing to his exuberance on the field. France created a unique record of scoring seven goals in each half, as they decided to go for utmost domination over a side which did not secure a point at the qualifying campaign this season.
Deschamps went with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Thuram the lone striker up front, supported by the magnanimous troika of Mbappe, Griezmann and Coman. Zaire-Emery, the 17-year old wizard was given the green signal to start the game alongside seasoned midfielder Rabiot, as the former has impressed this season with his exploits for the Ligue 1 giants. After being called up to represent the national side few days ago owing to his swashbuckling stint with PSG, the youngster got the opportunity to showcase his mettle in the international stage.
Started with a defensive mistake, ended with the biggest victory in history
With fans and supporters looking for a cakewalk for the French side, none would have hoped that Gibraltar would concede 14 goals in a single game. Before this game, they had conceded 21 goals in last six fixtures, and were slated to be hit for five-six goals from France, but conceding 14 was never on their mind. It started with an own-goal from Ethan Santos, who mistakenly slotted the ball into his own net after a Jonathan Clauss’ own goal hit him, thus beginning the proceedings for France. Inter Milan stalwart Marcus Thuram decided to embark upon the goal-fest when he made it 2-0 few seconds later.
On the 16th minute, it was Zaire-Emery who decided to inflict more misery upon Gibraltar, as the prodigy became the youngest ever to play for France since 1914. He scored his first goal, before coming off due to an apparent injury, which might rule him out of PSG matches for some days. Unfortunate Ethan Santos was shown a red card, as Gibraltar went down to 10 men with 18 minutes on the clock.
Seven goals on either halves
After goin down to 10 men, Gibraltar was unable to find answers to the unwavering attacks from French side, as they conceded three more goals to get the score line to 0-7. Mbappe scored from the spot to take his tally to 46 goals for the country, and further strikes from Fofana, Clauss and Coman made it seven goals, with more goals expected in the next half. In the second half, it appeared that France might have taken their feet off the pedal as it took them eighteen more minutes to get the eighth of the night, with Rabiot drilling it past Gibraltar custodian Coleing, who looked hapless amidst the French mauling.
France continued their rout as Coman and Dembele decided to pounce on the fragile and lost Gibraltar defense, before Mbappe completed his hattrick, entering the 300-goal club, which included a blitzkrieg 40-yard shot when he spotted opponent custodian Coleing to be off the line. Giroud helped himself with two quick goals before the final whistle, thus completing the riot with 14 goals, hitting 39 shots in total compared to none from Gibraltar.
