7 months ago
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Kylian Mbappe played saviour arsenic France closed successful connected qualification for adjacent year's World Cup with a lacklustre 3-0 location triumph implicit Azerbaijan successful their Group D qualifier connected Friday (October 10, 2025).
The 26-year-old opened the scoring connected the changeable of halftime and acceptable up Adrien Rabiot for the second, with substitute Florian Thauvin adding a 3rd to enactment Les Bleus connected 9 points from 3 games and springiness Didier Deschamps' broadside a accidental to unafraid qualification connected Monday erstwhile they question to Iceland.
France were missing respective cardinal players, with Paris St Germain forwards Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola each sidelined done injury, but erstwhile PSG duo Mbappe and Rabiot got the occupation done contempt an appalling archetypal half.
Azerbaijan, who adjacent play second-placed Ukraine (four points), stay bottommost of the array with 1 constituent down Iceland who person 3 aft 3 games.
Les Bleus stretched their unbeaten tally successful World Cup and European Championship qualifiers to 26 games, though they did not bash it successful style.
Mbappe had their archetypal accidental wrong seconds followed by a almighty angled onslaught from Malo Gusto astatine a quiescent Parc des Princes. Hugo Ekitike besides tested goalkeeper Shakhrudin Magomedaliyev, but France lacked a cutting borderline successful a mostly underwhelming archetypal half.
On the changeable of halftime, however, Mbappe slalomed done the visitors’ defence and recovered the backmost of the nett with a neat debased changeable to enactment France ahead.
Ekitike came adjacent aboriginal successful the 2nd half, his angled right-footed effort bouncing disconnected the acold post.
Rabiot yet enactment the effect beyond uncertainty successful the 69th minute, heading location from Mbappe’s transverse from the left.
Six years aft his past cap, Thauvin — a satellite champion with Les Bleus successful 2018 — replaced Mbappe successful the 83rd infinitesimal aft the skipper took a sound to his ankle and scored with his archetypal interaction a infinitesimal aboriginal with a subtle volley.
