First hit, then injured
The first version of the article appeared on November 19th at 9:33 a.m. and was later supplemented with Zaïre-Emery’s exact diagnosis and failure dates
Curious debut for Warren Zaire-Emery in the French national team: The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder is the youngest debutant in almost 110 years in his first appearance in the European Championship qualifier on Saturday against Gibraltar at 17 years, eight months and ten days. Zaire-Emery also scored his first international goal in the 16th minute to make it 3-0.
Only Jean-Marie Barat, Julien Verbrugghe, Maurice Gastiger and Charles Wilkes were younger in their first games, but these all go back a long time and date from 1905 to 1914. However, the youngster had to be replaced afterwards. While scoring the goal, Gibraltar’s defender Ethan Santos fouled him hard, which resulted in a red card for Santos after the video assistant intervened.
17 of 24 tickets awarded: These teams have qualified for the Euro 2024
“Luckily it’s not very serious,” France coach Didier Deschamps said of the injury. “It’s a big sprain, but the ligaments are not affected.” Zaire-Emery appeared in eleven league games for the capital club this season and scored two goals.
Update November 20th, 9:04 p.m.: PSG confirmed on Monday Diagnosis and downtime duration of Zaïre-Emerys. According to the club, the new international player “suffered a moderate sprain of his right ankle.” The midfield talent will remain under treatment until the winter break. The last Ligue 1 matchday is expected to take place in the week before Christmas, with action continuing on the second weekend in January.
Record victory and dream goals in France’s 14-0 spectacle
The 14-0 win by France’s stars has meanwhile set some records. Never before has a European national team scored 14 goals in qualifying for a European Championship or World Cup. The team around superstar Kylian Mbappé replaced the DFB team, which won the European Championship qualifiers 13-0 in San Marino in September 2006. “14 isn’t bad,” said Deschamps with a bit of a smile. “It was a perfect evening.”
The vice world champion has never scored more than ten goals before. France achieved their highest victory to date in September 1995 in the European Championship qualification with a 10-0 win against Azerbaijan (to the statistics of the record games). In addition to the records, the “Équipe Tricolore” impressed with dream goals. Mbappé scored from over 40 meters. With his hat-trick, the 24-year-old striker has now scored 300 goals in competitive games. Neither Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo nor Neymar could do that at that age. “He is perfect in his role as captain,” enthused Deschamps about his top player.
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