June 18, (THEWILL)- France kicked off their UEFA Euro 2024 campaign with a tough 1-0 victory over Austria in Dusseldorf. Didier Deschamps’ side extended their impressive unbeaten record in European Championship openers to seven wins and three draws.
Having dropped just two points across a dominant qualification campaign, France travelled to Germany as one of the favourites for the title. An opening fixture against Ralf Rangnick’s revitalised Austria team looked tricky on paper, but it was Les Bleus who started stronger.
Kylian Mbappe saw an early effort saved by Patrick Pentz, but France took the lead seven minutes before half-time. Mbappe’s delivery into the box was inadvertently glanced into his own net by Maximilian Wober.
France should have doubled their lead early in the second half when Mbappe squandered a one-on-one chance. Despite Les Bleus’ dominance, Pentz denied Marcus Thuram as Austria stayed in the contest.
However, Alexander Prass headed Austria’s best opportunity wide as France held firm to secure a hard-fought three points, extending their dominant head-to-head record to eight wins in the last 11 meetings against Das Team.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
