Olivier Giroud (l) from France celebrates his goal to make it 2-1 with teammate Ousmane Dembele (r). He also got the 4:1 later Photo: picture alliance/dpa
From BZ/dpa
A clear victory in the fight against the world champion curse – and that despite an early double shock: defending champion France made a successful start to the World Cup in Qatar and after initial problems also shone at times.
In the ultimately clear 4: 1 (2: 1) against Australia on Tuesday, the already injured French had to accept the next failure – and that could also be very bad news for FC Bayern: Because it was Munich left-back Lucas Hernández who injured himself after just eight minutes.
France’s predecessors as world champions – Italy, Spain and most recently Germany – were all eliminated in the preliminary round after their triumph. The curse also seemed to threaten the French when Craig Goodwin gave Australia the lead in their fifth consecutive World Cup appearance (9′).
But Adrien Rabiot (27′) and Olivier Giroud, replacing injured Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema (32′), turned the game around before the break. Kylian Mbappé (68th) and Giroud again followed suit (71st). With his 51st international goal, the double goalscorer joined Thierry Henry as France’s record goalscorer.
Kylian Mbappé celebrates his 3-1 goal Photo: picture alliance / GES/Markus Gi
Fans paid homage to Giroud by chanting his name on a loop to the tune of the Beatles classic “Hey Jude.”
An opening win against the Australians is a good omen for the French. They also started with a win against the team from Down Under at the World Cup coup four years ago, but only 2-1 at the time.