Karim Benzema expressed pride to have ended his near six-year exile from the France national side in Wednesday's friendly with 10-man Wales, but admitted there is room for improvement after missing a penalty in the 3-0 win.

The 33-year-old failed to convert a first-half spot-kick at the Allianz Riviera and hit the post in the build-up to Ousmane Dembele's late strike after Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann had put France on course for a routine win.

That was Benzema's third penalty miss in a row for his national side, having also failed to convert against Switzerland and Sweden in 2014.

However, on what was Benzema's first appearance for the world champions in five years and 237 days, the Real Madrid striker is pleased with how things went overall.

"There is a lot of pride and joy after that," he told TF1. "I had a good feeling going into the match after a good week of work and training. It's all about gaining momentum.

"It's been a difficult season with lots of matches. I feel good and that bodes well for the future.

"A match can often be like this with missed chances. The main thing is to create them and learn to do better next time."

Benzema may have endured a largely frustrating game in Nice, but he showed promising link-up play with goalscorers Mbappe and Griezmann in a star-studded front three.

"We tried hard," he said. "It's not easy against teams that use five defenders and play with a low block. That is something we will have to work on in training.

"But overall it was a good match. We worked hard and that is the most important thing today."

Mbappe's breakthrough goal for France arrived seven minutes after Benzema's penalty miss, awarded for Neco Williams' handball in front of goal that also resulted in a red card for the Wales defender.

France looked comfortable from that point on, with Griezmann curling home a second goal early in the second period and substitute Dembele tapping in a third.

The front three of Griezmann, Benzema and Mbappe will be arguably the most feared at the upcoming Euro 2020 finals, and head coach Didier Deschamps is happy to give the trio "complete freedom" up top.

"Karim was unhappy not to score but he was always there," Deschamps told TF1. "A goal would have made both him happy, and me too, but there's no harm in keeping them for later.

"There is no fixed position for the three attackers. I give them complete freedom. Their profiles are complementary. 

"Obviously when the ball is lost they know what needs to be done – they cannot disconnect from the others.

France's victory was their 19th in 24 matches and they now take on Bulgaria in their final friendly fixture ahead of facing Germany, Hungary and Portugal in a daunting Euro 2020 group.

"There's lots of good things to take out of this game," Deschamps said after seeing his side keep a third clean sheet in a row for the first time since October 2017.

"Obviously Wales had one less player and that made our jobs easier. We had lots of chances and it's good to conclude our first week together with this win. On another day the win could have been bigger, but it's a good start."

Karim Benzema missed a penalty and hit the post on his return to the France side, but the hosts took advantage of Neco Williams' contentious red card to beat 10-man Wales 3-0 in Wednesday's friendly at the Allianz Riviera.

Real Madrid striker Benzema was making his first international appearance since October 2015 in a star-studded starting line-up that also included Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe, who both found the net.

Mbappe opened the scoring from close range shortly after Benzema had his penalty saved by Danny Ward following Williams' handball – an infringement that also saw the Liverpool youngster sent off after a lengthy VAR check.

Fellow forward Griezmann doubled France's tally early in the second half and substitute Ousmane Dembele added a third as the world champions saw out the job in their penultimate match before beginning their Euro 2020 campaign.

Benzema had a glancing header well saved by Ward and the Wales goalkeeper was then equal to the returning striker's spot-kick with a little under half an hour played in Nice.

However, Wales were down to 10 men at that point as Williams was harshly sent off for deliberately handling the ball in front of goal when blocking Benzema's shot, coming after Ward had produced another stop to keep out Paul Pogba.

France made the most of the extra man seven minutes later as Mbappe got his boot to a loose ball first following Ward's low save to keep out Adrien Rabiot's deflected effort.

Griezmann gave the hosts some breathing space with a curled finish into the top-left corner with 47 minutes played after some nice link-up play with Mbappe.

Dan James was played in by substitute Aaron Ramsey and forced Hugo Lloris into a rare save, with that proving to be Wales' best chance of ending a run that now spans eight away friendly matches without scoring.

There was still time for France to add a third goal late on through Dembele's simple finish after Benzema's shot crashed back off the post and into his path.

Memphis Depay underlined his importance to the Netherlands with both goals as Frank de Boer's side twice fought back to secure a 2-2 draw against shorthanded Scotland.

Kevin Nisbet's first international goal appeared to have Scotland – without seven players following a positive coronavirus case within the squad – on course for a first victory over the Dutch since November 2003, only for Depay to curl in a free-kick and level the game.

The influential Netherlands forward had earlier cancelled out Jack Hendry's long-range opener as two nations preparing for the upcoming Euro 2020 tournament could not be separated after 90 minutes in Faro.

Hendry had broken the deadlock in spectacular fashion in the 11th minute, the centre-back drilling in a low, right-footed shot from just outside the penalty area, punishing the Netherlands as an attempt to play out from a goal kick led to a costly turnover.

However, after Lyndon Dykes was denied by Tim Krul, the Netherlands responded with an eye-catching strike of their own.

Picked out with a long pass after making a forward run into the penalty area, Georginio Wijnaldum headed the ball down into the path of supporting team-mate Depay, who sent a left-footed volley beyond Craig Gordon.

Wijnaldum did not feature for too much longer after his assist – De Boer replaced both his captain and also fellow midfielder Frenkie de Jong in the 31st minute. Substitutions became a common theme in the second half too, including the introduction of Nisbet.

The forward wasted little time in making an impact on proceedings after replacing Dykes, providing the finishing touch when picked out by Andy Robertson's inviting cross from Scotland's left flank.

Gordon denied Patrick van Aanholt to preserve the slender advantage, but there was nothing the goalkeeper could do with Depay's set-piece strike in the 89th minute.

Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels made their first appearances for Germany since November 2018 as Joachim Low's side were held to a 1-1 draw by Denmark in a Euro 2020 warm-up clash on Wednesday. 

The duo were among the experienced players removed from Low's thinking in March 2019 as he plotted a new path forward following Germany's group-stage exit at the 2018 World Cup.

But the pair have been trusted with helping Germany enjoy a successful tournament at the rescheduled Euros, which will be Low's final tournament in charge.

Die Mannschaft were comfortably the better side against Kasper Hjulmand's men, although they were denied a win when Yussuf Poulsen cancelled out Florian Neuhaus' opener 19 minutes from full-time at the Tivoli Stadion Tirol stadium in Austria. 

Germany started on the front foot, with Muller and Neuhaus forcing Kasper Schmeichel into saves inside the opening 15 minutes. 

Leroy Sane spurned a glorious chance to put Low's men ahead shortly before the half-hour mark, the Bayern Munich forward blazing a half-volley well over from 12 yards. 

Serge Gnabry went agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock moments before the interval when his curled effort from outside the penalty area crashed against the crossbar.

Germany's pressure told three minutes after the restart when Neuhaus stroked home his second international goal following a goalmouth scramble.

Denmark pulled level after a rare surge into the Germany half, Poulsen firing past Manuel Neuer after being released by Christian Eriksen.

Muller almost capped his return with the winning goal late on, but his flicked effort from Sane's cross bounced back off Schmeichel's post.

Karim Benzema was included in France's starting line-up for Wednesday's friendly with Wales in Nice, ending the Real Madrid striker's near six-year absence from the side.

The 33-year-old's most recent appearance for Les Blues came in October 2015 when scoring a brace against Armenia, taking his tally to 27 goals in 81 international appearances.

He then became embroiled in a blackmail scandal involving France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena - Benzema has denied the claims and is due to stand trial on the charge of complicity in attempted blackmail in October - and was subsequently overlooked by Didier Deschamps.

That was until last month, however, when Benzema was surprisingly recalled to the squad ahead of the Euro 2020 finals after holding face-to-face talks with Deschamps.

The prolific striker's recall comes on the back of a campaign in which he scored 30 goals for Madrid in all competitions, 23 of those in LaLiga – behind only Barcelona's Lionel Messi (30).

Some 68 months on from his last outing for France, Benzema was back involved on Wednesday in a star-studded front three alongside Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe.

The friendly at Allianz Riviera also marked a special occasion for Hugo Lloris, who was captaining his national side from the start of a game for the 100th time.

That is 46 more than any other player in Les Bleus history, with Deschamps next on the list.

Chelsea's Champions League-winning trio Kurt Zouma, N'Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud were not involved, while Thomas Lemar was also absent through injury.

Wales also named a strong line-up for their penultimate match before the European Championship finals get under way, with Gareth Bale captaining his side.

Serge Gnabry believes he could be the answer to Germany's goalscoring problem at Euro 2020.

The Bayern Munich forward has spent most of his career in wide roles, but coach Joachim Low – who will step down after the tournament – has selected just two strikers in his squad.

That suggests the coach is looking for others to make themselves available for central attacking duties, and the likes of Gnabry and Kai Havertz could be made for the job.

Havertz's Chelsea team-mate Timo Werner and Monaco forward Kevin Volland are the two frontline strikers at Low's disposal.

Germany were thrashed 6-0 by Spain last November in the Nations League, and although they began their World Cup qualifying campaign in March with wins over Iceland and Romania, a subsequent defeat to North Macedonia pointed to shortcomings.

On Wednesday they will tackle Denmark in a friendly in Innsbruck, a penultimate game before Germany launch their Euro 2020 campaign with a June 15 clash against France in Munich.

"I don't know yet whether I'll play on the wing or in the middle," Gnabry said in a pre-game news conference. "I haven't had a concrete conversation with the national coach.

"I'll do my best when I play in the centre and imitate the striker. But we have so much potential on the offensive that it doesn't really matter who is up front."

Gnabry suggested he enjoyed the central role because it inflated his chances of personal glory.

"Because you're closer to the goal, that's the only reason," Gnabry said. "I just love to score goals."

The former Arsenal player warned, however: "I'm not a [Robert] Lewandowski or [Erling] Haaland."

Gnabry scored just 11 goals for Bayern in the season just ended, after a 23-goal campaign in 2019-20, while Werner netted 12 for Chelsea and Volland hit the back of the net 18 times.

Gnabry's goals came at a healthy rate of one every 216.55 minutes, behind Volland (one every 177.11 minutes) but well ahead of Werner (one every 318.83 minutes).

Germany's Champions League finalists are not available for the Denmark game, meaning Low must get by without Havertz, Werner, Antonio Rudiger and Ilkay Gundogan.

Toni Kroos, Jamal Musiala and Leon Goretzka are also expected to be absent, the coach seeing his 26-man squad depleted.

Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels should win their first caps since November 2018, having been frozen out over the last two and a half years as Low attempted to give his team a younger look.

The coach went cap in hand to both recently, beckoning them back into his squad, and the experienced pair accepted the invitation.

Asked about Bayern team-mate Muller, Gnabry said: "He absolutely deserves it. He is incredibly effective and particularly valuable in terms of motivation. It's good to have him here."

Muller was one of only five players from Europe's top five leagues to score at least 15 goals and have at least 15 assists across all competitions in the 2020-21 season.

He scored 15 times and set up 19 goals, with the others in that exclusive club being Tottenham's Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes and Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho.

Hummels also had a stellar season in defence for Dortmund. He is 32 and Muller is 31, and Gnabry sees their experience and leadership qualities as being a major boon for Die Mannschaft.

"It's always good to have leaders on your team," Gnabry said. "If we all pull together, we will be successful."

Switzerland stepped up preparations for Euro 2020 by coming from behind to beat the United States 2-1 in St Gallen.

Vladimir Petkovic's men were 1-0 down in just over four and a half minutes as Sebastian Lletget captialised on Switzerland's failure to clear their lines.

His close-range strike made it five goals in his last six USA games for Lletget, but the visitors' joy was short-lived as Ricardo Rodriguez levelled in the 10th minute.

Rodriguez found the net with a deflected drive from the edge of the area following Silvan Widmer's right-wing cross, but the left-back then followed his goal by spurning a gilt-edged chance to complete the turnaround.

The Torino left-back sent a penalty wide of the right-hand post after Sergino Dest was ruled to have handled in the area in the 41st minute.

Rodriguez's blushes were spared after another defensive error from Barcelona player Dest presented substitute Steven Zuber with a simple 63rd-minute chance that did not go begging.

Switzerland, who have won five straight matches, host Liechtenstein on Thursday in their final warm-up game before beginning their Group A campaign against Wales in Baku on June 12.

Italy started their preparations for Euro 2020 with an emphatic 7-0 friendly win over San Marino at the Sardegna Arena on Friday. 

Despite a slow start, Roberto Mancini's side went in at the interval two goals up courtesy of strikes from Federico Bernardeschi – the Juventus man's sixth international goal – and Gian Marco Ferrari.  

Matteo Politano and Matteo Pessina added braces after the break, while Andrea Belotti was also on target as Italy brushed aside their neighbours with the minimum of fuss.

The result marked the Azzurri's seventh consecutive win without conceding a goal. 

Italy struggled in the early stages against their less illustrious opponents, with only Gianluca Mancini and Bernardeschi registering efforts on target inside the opening half hour. 

They went ahead after 31 minutes, however, when Bernardeschi's low strike from 20 yards proved too powerful for San Marino goalkeeper Elia Benedettini. 

Sassuolo defender Ferrari, who scored on his only other appearance for Italy against San Marino in 2017, doubled their advantage three minutes later, volleying home after Benedettini had failed to clear a corner. 

Half-time substitute Politano wasted little time making his mark on the game, sliding in his third international goal in the 49th minute after a mix-up in the San Marino defence. 

Belotti added a fourth after 67 minutes, the Torino striker latching onto Bernardeschi's pass and firing past Benedettini from eight yards. 

Pessina stroked home a fifth in the 75th minute after Gaetano Castrovilli had struck the post from outside the penalty area, while Politano added his second two minutes later with a fine volley from 12 yards.

Atalanta midfielder Pessina then rounded off the scoring four minutes from full-time with a poked finish from a tight angle.

Hirving Lozano's last-gasp header earned Mexico a 1-0 friendly victory over Costa Rica on Tuesday.

Costa Rica's goal lived a charmed life throughout the meeting in Austria, though it appeared Keylor Navas and company had done enough to keep Mexico at bay.

Indeed, Mexico's luck seemed out when Lozano and Orbelin Pineda both hit the crossbar in the 73rd minute, either side of Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Navas making a superb stop on the line to deny Hector Moreno.

Yet fortune ultimately favoured Gerardo Martino's side – who had 18 attempts but only hit the target three times – with Lozano turning in Luis Romo's flick-on in the 89th minute before a dreadful miss from Allan Cruz at the other end settled the contest.

The United States sealed a fifth consecutive win in all competitions as goals from Giovanni Reyna and Christian Pulisic secured a 2-1 friendly win over Northern Ireland. 

In the first-ever meeting between the two nations, USA went ahead after 30 minutes when Borussia Dortmund midfielder Reyna sent a deflected effort past Conor Hazard. 

That was Reyna's second goal in four appearances for his country, with his strike making him the youngest player to score an away goal for USA (18 years and 135 days) since Pulisic against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in September 2016 (17 years and 350 days).

Pulisic doubled the visitors' advantage in the 59th minute, stroking home from the penalty spot after he had been brought down inside the area by Daniel Ballard. That was the Chelsea man's eighth goal involvement in his last 10 appearances for his country (five goals, three assists). 

Substitute Niall McGinn pulled one back for Northern Ireland in the 88th minute but it proved too little, too late for Ian Baraclough's side, who are winless in their last 12 matches across all competitions.

Kieffer Moore scored the only goal of the game as Wales secured a 1-0 friendly win over Mexico on Saturday. 

Wales changed all 11 players from their 3-1 World Cup qualifying defeat to Belgium on Wednesday, but the new-look XI acquitted themselves superbly against a side ranked ninth in the world. 

The decisive goal came after just 11 minutes, Moore controlling Jonny Williams' pass before rolling past Guillermo Ochoa.

That was Cardiff City striker Moore's fifth goal in 14 appearances for Wales – at least two more than any other Welshman since his debut in September 2019. 

Hirving Lozano went close for the visitors in the second half, but Wales – for whom Chris Gunter became the first player to reach 100 appearances – held on to secure a first-ever win over Mexico at the fifth attempt.

Sergino Dest's first international goal set the United States on their way to a 4-1 friendly win over Jamaica in Austria on Thursday.

Barcelona wing-back Dest had become the second-youngest American player to score a brace in Europe's 'top five' leagues when netting twice in a 6-1 hammering of Real Sociedad last week and he maintained his impressive form.

Lining up on the left-hand side of a back four, the 20-year-old belatedly forged USA's breakthrough after 34 minutes of dominance.

Dest cut inside from the left and bent a right-footed finish around Jeadine White from the edge of the area, becoming the team's 12th different scorer in their past four matches.

Substitute Brenden Aaronson appeared to take the game away from Jamaica shortly after half-time.

The Salzburg midfielder had earlier created a chance that was squandered by Giovanni Reyna but made no mistake himself from close range when found by Josh Sargent.

A contract dispute meant the Reggae Boyz were robbed of regular stars such as Leon Bailey, instead relying on a host of debutants, but Swansea City's Jamal Lowe - one of the new men - chipped in 20 minutes from time.

Jamaica never truly threatened a late fightback, though, and Sebastian Lletget smartly swept in two more USA goals in the closing stages as they finished with four from 27 attempts.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic insists he is deserving of his place in the Sweden squad, even if he is no longer the same player he was when last representing his national side in 2016.

The Milan striker was recalled by Janne Andersson for this month's World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo and Georgia, plus the friendly with Estonia, paving the way for him to potentially play at Euro 2020.

He celebrated his first call-up in nearly five years by posting a picture on Twitter of himself in a Sweden shirt with the caption: "The return of the God."

Ibrahimovic, who turns 40 in October, is Sweden's all-time leading scorer with 62 international goals, the last of those coming against Denmark in November 2015. 

And having also impressed in Serie A this term with 14 goals in as many matches, the ex-Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain striker believes he can still make an impact.

"I don't want to be considered and called up for what I did before, but for what I can give now," he told the Swedish Football Association's official YouTube channel.

"I can't be the player I was five, 10, 15 or 20 yeas ago. Now, I have a completely different physique and a completely different game.

"But I keep a very high level. You don't have to worry. I'm not on the squad list because my name is Zlatan and I'm Ibrahimovic.

"It's because of what I add to the squad and what I have achieved. I think I deserve it."

Andersson previously ruled out a recall for Ibrahimovic, but his stance changed following a "great conversation" with the 116-cap ace in November.

Asked about those discussions with Andersson, Ibrahimovic said: "It was very positive. We examined everything and drew a line on everything that is the past. 

"We spoke with respect among ourselves. We were able to talk to each other.

"I recognise that mentality in myself. When you're a footballer at a certain level and you've the chance to represent your country it's the greatest joy there is to be able to do so. 

"It is with pride and honour that I will wear the national team jersey."

Ibrahimovic returned to Italian football in December 2019 after a two-season spell in MLS with LA Galaxy and has scored 27 goals in 41 games in all competitions.

Twenty-four of those goals have come in 32 Serie A appearances since returning to San Siro, a tally bettered only by Romelu Lukaku (30 goals in 45 games), Ciro Immobile (31 goals in 44 games) and Cristiano Ronaldo (44 goals in 42 games).

Sweden's players are due to gather on Monday ahead of their home qualifier against Georgia on March 25.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been called up by Sweden for the World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo and Georgia, paving the way for him to play at Euro 2020 this year.