Kylian Mbappe put the furore over his move to Real Madrid to one side as France's "fantastic leader" dominated in Wednesday's 3-0 friendly victory over Luxembourg.
Didier Deschamps lauded the leadership qualities of star striker Mbappe, who celebrated confirmation of his switch to the Spanish capital with a goal and two assists at Stade Saint-Symphorien in Metz.
Mbappe dazzled down the left flank to find space and tee up Randal Kolo Muani's first-half opener before paving the way for Jonathan Clauss' finish after the break.
The France forward was not done there, however, rounding off a fine individual performance with a late goal after an assist from former Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Bradley Barcola.
Just 12 days before Les Bleus' Euro 2024 opener against Austria, France head coach Deschamps was delighted with Mbappe's resounding international return.
Deschamps told French channel TF1: "He's a fantastic leader. His head and body weren't used to playing so little. He lacked a bit of juice.
"But he got it in his head that he was going to do everything to make up for his PSG frustration. It was a good example during the week."
France have a final warm-up friendly to come against Canada on Sunday before heading to the Euros, with Netherlands and Poland also in their challenging group.
Deschamps says this dominance over Luxembourg was a positive sign, though there remains room for improvement.
"It's a good rehearsal for the work we've done," he added.
"We're not going to get excited but there are some interesting things. I'm going to correct some positioning.
"But in the offensive animation, we had a lot of variety."
Olivier Giroud also became France's oldest player in history in the victory, coming on as a second-half substitute aged 37 years and 249 days.
Euro 2024 social round-up: Yaremchuk's tears of joy, Mbappe's new look
We are now a full week into Euro 2024, and the tournament continues to serve up plenty of entertainment – sometimes in the places fans least expect.
While there was nothing to separate the Netherlands and France in a dour goalless draw on Friday, Austria put on a show in Group D's other match, eliminating Poland with a 3-1 win.
Earlier on, there were emotional scenes as Ukraine claimed their first major tournament win since Euro 2020, fighting back to beat Slovakia 2-1 in Group C.
There was also plenty more happening away from the pitch, and we run through the best of the day's content here, in our social media round-up.
Tears of joy for Ukraine
Ukraine's first game at the tournament fell flat as they were thrashed 3-0 by Romania, and they were staring at an early exit when they went 1-0 down to Slovakia on Friday.
However, second-half goals from Mykola Shaparenko and Roman Yaremchuk turned the game on its head, throwing up the prospect of all four Group E teams entering the final matchday on three points.
It was an understandably emotional occasion for Ukraine and for winning goalscorer Yaremchuk, who was pictured in tears at the full-time whistle.
Heartbreak for Tierney
From ecstasy to agony. Friday began with the news that Scotland full-back Kieran Tierney would miss the remainder of the tournament with the hamstring injury he sustained against Switzerland earlier this week.
Taking to Instagram, Tierney said he was "heartbroken" after it was confirmed he would return to Arsenal for tests.
Scotland will be hoping to give him something to cheer on Sunday, when a victory over Hungary would likely book a last-16 place.
Leipzig turns Oranje
There is nothing quite like the sight of the Netherlands' fans turning a host city orange, and that is precisely what happened ahead of their meeting with France.
Bouncing in tandem at the team's fan zone, these supporters certainly brought the party to Leipzig.
Some might even have regretted leaving for the Red Bull Arena, after sitting through the tournament's first goalless draw.
The masked crusader
After he suffered a broken nose during France's opening game against Austria, Kylian Mbappe's condition has been a hot topic of debate.
On Thursday, he was seen going through his paces in a tricolour protective mask sure to impress French patriots.
However, with UEFA regulations stipulating that any mask he wears competitively must be all one colour, he unveiled a new, sleek look on Friday.
He did not get off the bench against the Netherlands, but France's masked crusader will be itching to return to the field against Poland on matchday three.
Scenes to savour for Austria
A huge contingent of Austrian fans made the short trip to Berlin to witness another highly impressive display from Ralf Rangnick's team on Friday.
This one was capped with three points, too, as second-half goals from Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic handed them a deserved 3-1 win over Poland.
Arnautovic appeared overcome with emotion when he was substituted late on, and he was later seen directing the celebrations as Austria underlined their status as potential dark horses.
Deschamps regrets France's lack of efficiency in goalless draw
Didier Deschamps bemoaned France's lack of a clinical edge as they played out a 0-0 draw with the Netherlands on Friday.
Les Bleus, without talisman Kylian Mbappe due to a broken nose he suffered against Austria in their opener, struggled in front of goal, managing only three shots on target out of their 15.
Xavi Simons thought he had broken the deadlock in the 69th minute, only to have it chalked off due to Denzel Dumfries impeding Mike Maignan from an offside position.
After a wasteful performance in the final third, Deschamps was not willing to speculate if the situation would have been different if Mbappe played.
"The only regret is the efficiency," Deschamps told M6. "It was a match with great intensity, a Dutch team more cautious than usual.
"Compared to the opponent, we had no less 36 hours less recovery. We responded on an athletic level despite everything we did everything we had to do to recover as much as possible but hey..."
"Kylian, it's Kylian, we're not going to compare him to the others.
"[Bradley] Barcola has qualities, that's why he's there, he does good things in training. But he's never been with us. In a match like that, it's never easy to put it at the end to make the difference, but the team was rather well-balanced, we were able to create danger and defend well."
France could have sealed their place in the round of 16 with a win in Leipzig, though they will likely qualify anyway after moving onto four points with this draw.
Antoine Griezmann had the most shots for France (five), including two big chances, and he admitted that the side needed to work on their finishing ahead of their final match against Poland on Tuesday.
"I have two 'opportunities' where it stays in my feet. It's a real shame," Griezmann told beIN Sports.
"That's what we're missing in the two matches, we have to work on it. Defensively, we were good. Tactically, we were good. We're missing that little goal; it's going to happen."
Netherlands 0-0 France: Simons denied as spoils shared at top of Group D
Xavi Simons saw a potential winner controversially disallowed as the spoils were shared in a 0-0 draw between the Netherlands and France in Group D at Euro 2024.
A VAR check led to the Dutchman's 69th-minute strike being chalked off for offside, stopping the Oranje from booking their place in the round of 16 with a game to spare.
Antoine Griezmann squandered a host of chances for France, who struggled in front of goal with Kylian Mbappe relegated to the bench due to a broken nose.
Both sides move onto four points, and after Austria's win over Poland earlier on Friday, it is all to play for between the top three on the final matchday, with Poland the first team to be officially eliminated from the tournament.
The Netherlands came flying out of the blocks, with Jeremie Frimpong forcing a fingertip save from Mike Maignan with less than a minute on the clock.
France soon found their footing though, with Griezmann, wearing the armband in Mbappe's absence, failing to scramble it in from six yards after Adrien Rabiot's lay-off before he drilled another effort just wide of the post.
Maignan was required again when Cody Gakpo cut inside from left before whipping a firm shot across goal, as the goalkeeper got a strong hand to it.
Just before the half-hour mark, Marcus Thuram looked set to break the deadlock after beating the offside trap, but one-on-one with the goalkeeper, he sliced his effort over the crossbar.
After a slow start to the second half, France rallied on the hour mark, with Aurelien Tchouameni flashing a header over before Griezmann saw another glorious opportunity smothered by Bart Verbruggen at his near post.
Against the run of play, Simons thought he had given the Netherlands the lead by picking out the bottom-right corner after latching onto the rebound of Memphis Depay's saved shot, but Denzel Dumfries, in an offside position, was judged to be impeding the goalkeeper and the goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check.
Toothless France struggle without their talisman
All the pre-match talk centred on whether Mbappe would be fit to play after suffering a broken nose against Austria.
The answer: he was not. Instead, he started on the bench, with Marcus Thuram tasked with playing as the main forward in his absence.
Griezmann provided their foremost threat though, appearing in his 11th consecutive game at the Euros for France – Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (18) and Germany's Toni Kroos (13) are the only outfielders on longer such streaks for their nations.
It was a record-equalling appearance for the stand-in captain too, his 32nd at major tournaments, the most for a French outfielder along with Lilian Thuram.
However, the forward had four of France's five first-half shots, finishing with five overall, but failed to lead Les Bleus to a statement victory.
Still, France's wait for a win without Mbappe in their starting lineup goes on, as they have failed to come out on top in any of their last seven such matches (four draws, three defeats).
Netherlands smother Les Bleus
After losing both meetings in qualifying for Euro 2024 by an aggregate score of 6-1, the Netherlands were likely not too happy to come up against Les Bleus once more.
However, in the absence of Mbappe, who has scored six goals in five matches against the Dutch, the Netherlands were able to hold firm.
At the Euros, the Oranje have now avoided defeat in all three of their group-stage meetings with France (2000, 2008, 2024).
Defensively, they stood strong. Despite France having 13 shots, only three were on target as they created 1.4 expected goals (xG).
Virgil van Dijk led by example, making the most clearances (seven) of anybody on the pitch as the Netherlands protected their clean sheet.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
