Adrien Rabiot believes that France's inexperienced midfield "can be a positive force", following an impressive showing in the opening fixture against Australia.

Didier Deschamps' defending champions were ravaged by injury issues in their build-up to the World Cup in Qatar, with midfield duo Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante among those being forced to watch on from home.

That pairing played an integral part in France's success in Russia four years ago, leaving a high bar to Rabiot and Aurelien Tchouameni, who started in the win against the Socceroos.

Both impressed with their performance, Rabiot scoring France's equaliser on the way to a 4-1 win, and he feels the youthfulness of the side can provide a boost.

"I don't listen or read what is being said. Our midfield is young and less experienced than in previous competitions, that's a fact. But it can be a positive force. Time and results will tell," he told ESPN.

"We also need to look at the quality of the players here, and our commitment. For us, even if there is less experience of these situations, there's still such a strong desire to do well.

"It is important to have players you can rely on, players you can 'rest' on. To know that some have more experience, more Champions League games, matters too.

"I like to be there for my teammates. I like to be advising, talking and listening. Helping my teammates to perform and be in the right conditions, physically and mentally, for what we face on the pitch is something I like doing."

France are among the favourites to go all the way in Qatar, with Rabiot making it clear that his intention is to win – which would see Les Bleus become only the third team to win back-to-back World Cup tournaments after Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962).

"When I play a tournament, my target is to win it. I want to win this World Cup," he declared.

"I don't know if I will ever play a World Cup again, so we have to go for it and bring the trophy back home.

"We have to give everything, without thinking about anything else. It is now. Otherwise, there is no point being here.

"We have to be serene and be confident in our abilities, but not take anything for granted, like we did against Australia."

France can secure their spot in the knockout stages with victory against Denmark on Saturday, then finishing the group stage against Tunisia on Wednesday.

Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand is not frightened by Kylian Mbappe but conceded there is only so much you can do to stop the France striker.

Mbappe scored in Les Bleus' 4-1 win against Australia in their World Cup Group D opener on Tuesday and looked razor sharp alongside Olivier Giroud.

Hjulmand's men ground out a goalless draw against Tunisia, although keeping another clean sheet against the defending champions may be trickier to achieve.

Asked if he was frightened at the thought of trying to keep Mbappe quiet, Hjulmand replied: "I don't think it's good to be frightened. We have plans to stop him. At Parken [in September] we had a good plan, a good structure. He had two or three chances and no matter what plans you have against top players, you can't keep them down.

"We have carried out plenty of analysis to try to minimise his impact, we don't want him to show the talent he has."

Hjulmand is hoping some insider knowledge will also help stifle France's threat with captain Simon Kjaer a team-mate of Giroud at Milan.

He added: "I hope it's an advantage. A player like Giroud is very good at what he does. It's a pleasure seeing so many strikers in the latter stages of their careers showing how to move in the box, showing how to be dangerous in their positioning and showing how to finish in the box.

"Giroud is better now than he was before, he is very dangerous. Simon knows him very well and we have been talking about the small details."

Denmark enjoyed back-to-back wins against Didier Deschamps' side in the Nations League earlier this year but Hjulmand knows facing them at a World Cup is a different proposition.

"We have tested them a couple of times but this is a different tournament," he said. "But we know that if we play our best we have a chance of getting a good result.

"To be able to do that, we have to take a big step forward in quality from the first match."

Denmark and France kick off six hours after the other Group D encounter between Australia and Tunisia, and Hjulmand admitted the result of that game could affect his approach to the game.

"I won't watch that game, but I will obviously know the outcome as it will influence how we approach our game," he said.

"I am only really talking about the last 25 minutes. We are focused on winning the match but the other game will influence our approach."

Marcel Desailly believes Rafael Leao must become "ruthless" and "forge his character" following comparisons between the Milan winger and Thierry Henry.

Leao, directly involved in 10 of the Rossoneri's 29 Serie A goals this season (scoring six and assisting four), opened his Portugal tally in their World Cup win over Ghana on Thursday.

Desailly won the Champions League and two Scudetti during his five-year stint at Milan between 1993 and 1998 - the same year he was a team-mate of Henry's in France's first World Cup triumph.

When asked if he thought Leao was similar to Henry, whose national record tally of 51 goals was equalled by Olivier Giroud in Les Bleus' victory over Australia on Tuesday, the former defender told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Calm down.

"It seems to me that Leao became a star before he even became a star. He has enormous potential, but he doesn't give me the idea of being ruthless. I ask Leao to forge his character."

Meanwhile, Desailly praised another Milan player in compatriot Theo Hernandez, who appeared as a substitute in France's 4-1 triumph over the Socceroos and could remain at full-back for the remainder of the World Cup following injury to his brother Lucas.

"Theo Hernandez can become the strongest in the world," he added. "He is a chameleon, he has the ability to change his function within the team."

Having regained the Serie A crown last season, Stefano Pioli's side are eight points adrift of leaders Napoli after the opening 15 matches in the Italian top flight.

The Partenopei are unbeaten so far in their quest for a first Scudetto since the 1989-90 season, but Desailly does not believe they will maintain their momentum throughout the campaign.

"I love Napoli’s energy," he said. "But I doubt they can hold on psychologically until the end. They don't have the squad to hold up."

Hugo Lloris is confident Adrien Rabiot will prove crucial to France's World Cup defence following his impressive display against Australia, while Didier Deschamps wants even more from Ousmane Dembele.

Injuries to Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante opened the door for Rabiot to assume a central role in Qatar, and he did not let Les Bleus down in their 4-1 win over the Socceroos.

The Juventus midfielder grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck before the break, cancelling out Craig Goodwin's earlier strike by scoring the equaliser before assisting the first of Olivier Giroud's two goals.

Rabiot subsequently became the first France player to both score and assist a goal on his World Cup debut since Christophe Dugarry against South Africa in 1998.

Lloris said: "A lot has been said about the absences of Kante and Pogba, who have been vital engines for us for some years now. 

"But you can forget that there are players who can step up and have the maturity and experience to take a leading role – Adrien has that.

"We know his qualities, there is an opportunity for him at this World Cup.

"The opportunity is coming at the right time and he has shown that against Australia.

"He stepped up and scored that goal and gave an assist to Olivier, it shows the impact he can have on the team.

"We know how talented he is, but he also is a very hard worker, he is very technically gifted, a very elegant player. I'm sure he'll help us go as far as possible."

Meanwhile, Deschamps believes Dembele must continue to strive for improvement, despite grabbing an assist in the Australia victory.

The Barcelona forward, whose brilliant cross set up Kylian Mbappe, started France's first two games at the 2018 tournament, but made just two further substitute appearances in Russia.

He was then unused during the victory over Croatia in the final.

But Deschamps insists Dembele has not arrived in Qatar with a point to prove, saying: "I don't think he wants to make up for it or forget it; he was in 2018 squad, and it was successful.

"Four years ago, he was going through a difficult time with major injuries. Now, he is more mature, but he is still full of youthful exuberance. He is in a club that is very demanding, and maybe he is better at that club.

"He is always capable of creating problems for the opponent as he is so quick and skilful, but he needs to rule out any wastefulness and be as effective as he possibly can.

"He was pleased to be in first XI [against Australia], and he put in a good performance."

France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris believes Richarlison has proven his qualities for Brazil, silencing his doubters with a double against Serbia.

Richarlison was the star of the show for Brazil in Doha on Thursday, as Tite's team started their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory at Lusail Stadium.

The Tottenham forward tucked in an opportunistic opener in the 62nd minute, before lashing an acrobatic attempt into the left-hand corner to seal the victory in style.

Brazil's win was marred by an ankle injury for Neymar, though Tite was confident the Paris Saint-Germain star would recover.

Asked about his Spurs team-mate, as well as Neymar's injury, while previewing France's Group D clash with Denmark, Lloris said: "Neymar is an icon in global football, but I'm not going to talk about him that much, I don't know how serious the injury is.

"For Richarlison, I'm delighted for him, he's not one of the better-known players in the Brazil squad and maybe not everyone expected to be in XI, but he's a great player, a great goalscorer – as he proved with the first goal but then a wonderful second goal.

"[It was] spectacular, and the best goal of the tournament so far, so that's great for him.

"We know how good a team Brazil is, they're favourites. They'll be delighted to win the first game, that's what they needed to do, to get out on the front foot."

Holders France can seal their place in the last 16 by beating Denmark on Saturday, though they go into that match having lost their last two meetings with the Danes, both of those defeats coming in this year's Nations League.

Lloris said: "It gives you an idea of the level of this Danish team, it's an excellent side and capable of beating the best.

"It's been a wake-up for us, we can't say we don't know them and we don't need extra motivation, [it's] a decisive game for qualification. If you look at the first games between Tunisia and Denmark, you can see that we have a lot of work to do. Every team is in a good place."

"They are underestimated," France coach Didier Deschamps said of Denmark, who have kept a clean sheet in three of their last five World Cup games.

"We're talking about just between June and September where they beat us twice and made life difficult. We have to make sure that's not the case. It's not a question of revenge, we know their players, they know us.

"We'll learn from those experiences but Denmark can learn too."

Lucas Hernandez has successfully undergone surgery after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in France's 4-1 World Cup opening win against Australia on Tuesday.

Hernandez's club Bayern Munich confirmed he had the operation in Innsbruck on Thursday, with his rehabilitation to commence in Munich in the coming days.

The defender was ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup due to the injury that saw him replaced after only 13 minutes.

Bayern did not provide a timeframe on Hernandez's recovery but it is expected he will miss the rest of the 2022-23 season.

Hernandez is the latest injury blow for the world champions, who saw Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Karim Benzema and Christopher Nkunku all ruled out before the tournament started.

France head coach Didier Deschamps said after Tuesday's game: "Like the whole group, players and staff, I am extremely sorry for Lucas.

"We are losing an important element. Lucas is a warrior and I have no doubt that he will do everything possible to return to the game.

"I know him well. Courage, he will have it, that's for sure. On behalf of the group, I wish him the best possible recovery."

Hernandez has made 11 appearances, including 10 starts, for Bayern this season, having missed six weeks with an adductor injury sustained in September.

Dani Alves believes Kylian Mbappe "has still not understood" the value of playing with "geniuses" Lionel Messi and Neymar in Paris Saint-Germain's attack.

Mbappe is the leading marksman in Ligue 1 this season with 12 goals – one more than Brazil international Neymar – while he is just 11 away from breaking Edinson Cavani's club record tally of 200.

However, the France international has only registered two assists in the French top flight this term, with Messi (10) and Neymar (nine) recording 19 between them.

Alves spent two years playing alongside Mbappe and Neymar in Paris, having also previously won multiple honours alongside the latter and Messi at Barcelona.

The Brazil full-back who, at 39, was handed a chance to become his nation's oldest World Cup player, feels the 23-year-old Mbappe's goalscoring exploits would be even greater should be pass to his team-mates more often.

"Neymar and Messi are unique, they see and do things that no one else sees or can do," Alves told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "You have to be smart to take advantage of their potential, they are the two geniuses of football.

"I think I can touch the ball well, but when I was playing with Leo, I was giving him the ball. And if I play with Ney, I give him the ball. If Mbappe gave the ball to those two, he would score 150 goals [in a season].

"A great player always has to know and understand who he is playing with. Your team-mates enrich your qualities.

"Mbappe is a phenomenon who has still not understood that those who play in attack with him are more phenomenal than him."

Ousmane Dembele says he has "matured" as a person and a player since France last the World Cup in 2018, following a victorious start to their title defence against Australia.

The Barcelona winger started as Didier Deschamps' side bounced back from an early Craig Goodwin finish to win 4-1 in Al Wakrah, thanks to an Olivier Giroud double and goals from Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe.

Having been an unused substitute four years ago as Les Bleus beat Croatia in  the final in Russia, Dembele is looking to play his part in what he hopes to be a successive World Cup triumph.

With his Blaugrana form having turned a corner after a prolonged saga over his future at the club, he feels he is in a stronger place to contribute now for the national team at Qatar 2022.

"There has been three difficult seasons with Barcelona," he stated. "When you look at the first two games [I played in] 2018 and this year there is a lot of difference.

"I have matured. I didn't have a healthy lifestyle as you can imagine, [though] it wasn't a party! But I'm a little older now, [at] 25."

France's recovery ensured they dodged an upset against Australia, but other heavyweight favourites have been less fortunate so far at the World Cup.

Argentina were stunned by lowly Saudi Arabia, while Germany, looking to recover from a chastening campaign in Russia, failed to stop a comeback from Japan.

Dembele says it leaves a warning that no match is easy at Qatar 2022, and that bigger sides write off theoretical underdogs at their peril.

"There are no small teams," he added. "Everyone knows how to play football, how to work on tactics. We saw that with Saudi Arabia.

"When you lower the intensity, you get trapped. But with our team, if we put all the ingredients together, we will not have to worry."

France are next in action when they play Denmark in Group D on November 26, before their final group stage match against Tunisia four days later.

Garang Kuol became Australia's youngest World Cup star on Tuesday but noted the "big difference" he must bridge in order to regularly rub shoulders with the likes of Kylian Mbappe.

Kuol, who at 18 years and 68 days old was the ninth-youngest player in the tournament's history, was brought on as a 73rd-minute substitute moments after the final goal in the Socceroos' 4-1 opening defeat to holders France.

The highly talented winger – already confirmed as a Newcastle United signing ahead of a January move – enjoyed a few bright touches yet saw a significant gap to his opponents.

Kuol did not start a single A-League game for Central Coast Mariners, although he scored six goals in 326 minutes from the bench.

Meanwhile, Mbappe was France's star man as they took the title in Russia 2018 four years ago and appears to be in the mood to repeat the feat.

"You could see the level that they're at," Kuol said afterwards.

"They're 6ft 4[in] people who are as quick as me, so there was a big difference between me and some of those players. Only hard work will get me to that level.

"I think it was a good taste to see the level the players are at. Some play in the Premier League, some play in the Champions League, so it was good to get that taste of the level."

Mbappe in particular was relentless after a slow start had seen Australia lead through Craig Goodwin in the ninth minute.

The Paris Saint-Germain forward scored the third goal before creating the fourth for Olivier Giroud, having also had a role in the second – again scored by Giroud.

Mbappe had 19 touches in the Australia box – the most by any player in a World Cup match since 1970 – and completed three dribbles.

Australia right-back Nathaniel Atkinson endured a torrid time, not helped by the introduction of attacking France left-back Theo Hernandez after his brother Lucas was injured attempting to prevent the Socceroos goal.

Atkinson was dribbled past twice and gave away possession on 12 occasions, including an error leading to France's second.

"It's obviously the first time I've come up against this type of opposition in my career," Atkinson said.

"Obviously, I've taken full responsibility for the second goal, but the beauty of the tournament is you can't dwell on it because you've got another game to fix it in three days.

"It's a good experience. It's an eye-opener. There's a reason [Mbappe] is earning 200million [Australian] dollars a year and I am where I am, but that's something to look forward to.

"It's good to come up against this calibre. You know what to work on. I know what to fix; I've played that scenario 50 times over and I could probably come up with 50 different solutions. That's football. I'm disappointed.

"It's just the physicality of the guy. The pace... it's not hidden how quick that guy is – you give him one step and he's gone.

"As a team, you can always come up with a plan, but sometimes if it's one-v-one and he gets the better of you, it's a learning curve.

"You can get your confidence up with getting a few challenges in, but there's a reason why he's one of the top three players in the world."

Australia are not giving up hope, inspired by Saudi Arabia's sensational defeat of Argentina earlier on Tuesday.

"Anything can happen," Atkinson added. "You see what Saudi did against Argentina.

"We've come up against the world champions, and there's a reason for that. They're a good footballing team. We can take confidence from the way we played early on in that game."

Lucas Hernandez will miss the rest of the World Cup, and likely the remainder of the season, after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

France were dealt a huge blow by injuries ahead of their campaign in Qatar, which began with a 4-1 rout of Australia on Tuesday.

Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Karim Benzema and Christopher Nkunku were all ruled out before the tournament started, and now Didier Deschamps has lost another key player.

Hernandez suffered the injury nine minutes into the win over Australia, as he went down clutching his right knee after being turned by Matthew Leckie in the build-up to Craig Goodwin's opening goal.

Deschamps and Hugo Lloris both conceded after the match that it did not look positive for the Bayern Munich defender, and France have now confirmed the 26-year-old's ruptured his ACL.

Given the extent of his injury, Hernandez will miss a chunk of the rest of the 2022-23 campaign when it resumes after the World Cup.

"Like the whole group, players and staff, I am extremely sorry for Lucas," said Deschamps.

"We are losing an important element. Lucas is a warrior and I have no doubt that he will do everything possible to return to the game.

"I know him well. Courage, he will have it, that's for sure. On behalf of the group, I wish him the best possible recovery."

Hugo Lloris fears Lucas Hernandez has suffered an "important injury", dealing France yet another blow as they bid to defend their World Cup crown.

France began their campaign with a 4-1 win over Australia on Tuesday but were without Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Christopher Nkunku and Karim Benzema, who were all ruled out of the tournament.

And left-back Hernandez was added to that injury list after he went down in attempting to stop Matthew Leckie's cross for Australia's shock opener.

The outlook does not look positive for the Bayern Munich defender, but France captain Lloris hopes his team-mates can rally as they have done before.

"It's never good to see one of your team-mates leaving the field in that way," he said. "I believe it's an important injury.

"He's not the first one, but we have to continue to look forward. Unfortunately we could not count on him, but we have a team with other players that we trust.

"We have to stay together and keep believing, keep our focus on that."

Lloris added: "We have important players left on the side for injuries, but luckily we have a lot of talented players in France, players we can trust, because they have the talent, the mentality and the desire to perform at the highest level.

"We try to create something special inside the team day by day. We try to enjoy the moment, not only on the pitch but also off the pitch.

"We have to take it game by game. Obviously it's a World Cup, there's no easy games and we have to be ready to face difficulties. When we face difficulties, we have to make sure that everybody raises their level."

The previous three holders have exited the World Cup at the group stage, but that sequence appears unlikely to be extended now.

Indeed, France's 4-1 win was the biggest in the first game of a title defence in World Cup history.

"We're obviously pleased with the result and pleased with the performance," Lloris said.

"I believe we had a good start in that game, but unfortunately we conceded that goal. We also lost one of our team-mates in this action by injury.

"But the team stayed calm, and we took control of the game and slowly started to dominate and created chances, then we scored one and two.

"Second half, I think we controlled perfectly. It's a good start."

Didier Deschamps has defended his decision to substitute Olivier Giroud in France's World Cup win over Australia, delaying his bid to become France's all-time leading goalscorer outright.

Giroud equalled Thierry Henry's record of 51 goals for France with a brace on Tuesday, helping Les Bleus fight back to post a 4-1 win in their Group D contest.

However, the striker was replaced by Marcus Thuram in the closing stages, meaning he will have to wait until Saturday's meeting with Denmark for another chance to seize the record for himself. 

Deschamps was defensive when asked why he withdrew Giroud in his post-match press conference, responding: "Would you like to take my place and be the coach? 

"Olivier Giroud did what he does best, he scored goals. You have to manage a lot of things as a coach.

"We have another match in four days and we'd already scored four goals, so sometimes it's good to give someone else a chance and give him a rest.

"You tend to talk about records a lot, he tends to focus on what he does on the pitch. 

"He was very effective tonight, which is great for him, he's useful with the way he links up with the other attackers in our team."

As well as claiming a slice of France history, Giroud – aged 36 years and 53 days – became the second-oldest player to score a World Cup brace, after Roger Milla did so twice at the 1990 tournament when 38 years old.

France initially looked unlikely to make a positive start to their World Cup defence, with Adrien Rabiot having to cancel out Craig Goodwin's opener before Giroud took centre stage.

Deschamps was pleased with Les Bleus' response to going behind after witnessing other sides fail to fight back in the tournament's opening round of fixtures.

"I think we began the match well, we linked up well in the first few minutes but we let in a goal which we should have avoided," Deschamps said.

"It was tough, but in the second half we showed a lot more confidence, we created a lot more chances and scored four goals, so of course that is good. We could have scored more, but it's a very good beginning.

"The first match is always vital, so I have to congratulate the team. We saw some earlier games where teams were unable to respond, but we did. We showed strength of character."

Tuesday began with one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history as Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2-1, but Deschamps said that surprise result had no bearing on France's approach.

"The players saw that match, but you have to focus on the opponent that's in front of you," he added.

Olivier Giroud feels "blessed" to have matched Thierry Henry's France goalscoring record with a brace against Australia that marked his first World Cup goals since 2014.

Giroud was a key part of the France side that won the title at Russia 2018, but he failed to score across seven matches.

The Milan striker's only previous World Cup goal had been the opener in a group-stage rout of Switzerland eight years ago, a meagre return from 12 appearances in the competition.

But Giroud never doubted himself, insisting after Tuesday's double in a 4-1 win he had not received the same level of chances in 2018.

He accrued 1.7 expected goals from five shots at Al Janoub Stadium, having had chances worth just 1.2 xG across the entirety of the previous World Cup.

"Not really," Giroud replied when asked if he was relieved. "I just try to bring what I can do to the team.

"When I get the opportunity, I try to always put it in the back of the net. This time, I couldn't miss, because I received great balls.

"If you watch the World Cup 2018, I didn't get as many chances as I would hope. Those were different kinds of games. It's very good for confidence for the next stage."

Giroud's second goal from a Kylian Mbappe cross was his 51st for France, matching Henry's record return.

"I don't like to speak about myself," Giroud said. "I will say that we started the competition well. It was massively important to win this first game.

"We started the game in not the best way, but we've shown a great character and we bounced back straight away, which was very important.

"Personally, obviously, I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be next to Titi Henry now."

He added to TF1: "It's a source of great pride, I don't intend to stop there. I hope to continue in the competition so that I can help the team achieve our goal."

Didier Deschamps believes Kylian Mbappe is set for another memorable World Cup after he claimed a goal and an assist in France's 4-1 win over Australia, declaring: "It's his competition".

Mbappe became just the second teenager – after Pele in 1958 – to score in a World Cup final as France downed Croatia to win the tournament in Russia four years ago, and he made a strong start to this year's competition as Les Bleus claimed a comeback win.

Craig Goodwin handed Australia a surprise lead in Tuesday's Group D clash, but Mbappe built on first-half strikes from Adrien Rabiot and Olivier Giroud as France got off to a winning start.

At 23 years and 337 days old, Mbappe is now the youngest player to have scored five World Cup goals for France, and Deschamps expects him to go from strength to strength in Qatar. 

"Kylian has been one of the best players in the world for some time now, and he's feeling very confident," Deschamps said. "You can see that in the way he plays. He is calm and concentrated. 

"He has been in good form for quite some time. I knew he was going to be ready for this World Cup, it's his competition and he knows how to make the difference.

"He's always been able to play as part of a team, so that's great for us, and I've got a lot of attackers, but Kylian is, of course, an outstanding one."

France's victory ensured they became the first World Cup holders to make a winning start at the tournament since Brazil did so in 2006, while their current five-match winning run at the finals is their joint-longest such streak (also five across the 1986 and 1998 editions).

However, France's win was tarnished as they received yet another injury blow, with Bayern Munich's Lucas Hernandez limping out of the game in the aftermath of Australia's early goal.

Deschamps fears the defender may have sustained a serious injury, which could open the door for his brother Theo Hernandez to start Saturday's fixture against Denmark.

"With Lucas Hernandez, we're still waiting for the results of the tests, but I'm afraid it could be pretty serious," Deschamps said.

"It's true that Lucas' injury was a tough blow. I'll have to think about his replacement.

"You can't have three players for every position in your squad, but there is obviously Theo Hernandez and other alternatives."

Olivier Giroud equalled Thierry Henry's France goalscoring record as Les Bleus fought back to begin their World Cup defence with a 4-1 victory over Australia on Tuesday.

Having lost Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and others to injury during a chaotic build-up to the tournament, France suffered another blow when Craig Goodwin fired Australia into an early lead.

But the holders responded well, with the impressive Adrien Rabiot recording a goal and an assist – the latter for Giroud – during a first-half turnaround.  

Kylian Mbappe then made the points safe with a fine glancing header before teeing up Giroud to nod home his landmark 51st goal as France took control of Group D.

Goodwin side-footed Mathew Leckie's cross into the roof of the net after nine minutes in a dream start for Australia but a quickfire France double turned the game around.

Rabiot contributed to both goals, nodding home Theo Hernandez's deep cross after 27 minutes before his cut-back allowed Giroud to tap in.

The end of an entertaining first half featured clear chances at both ends, with Mbappe firing over from close range before Jackson Irvine headed against the post.

Giroud went close to a spectacular second when he sent an acrobatic effort wide shortly after the break, while Antoine Griezmann saw a shot cleared off the goalline as France continued to press.

France finally had a deserved third goal after 68 minutes, with Mbappe diverting Ousmane Dembele's cross in off the post to clinch the win.

Mbappe sent in a fine cross for France's fourth just three minutes later, but the moment belonged to Giroud as he powered a header beyond Mathew Ryan to earn a slice of Les Bleus history.

What does it mean? Champions make strong start

France approached Tuesday's match looking to buck the recent trend of slow starts from World Cup holders – the reigning champions had only started with a win at three of the last 12 tournaments (D4 L5).

Given their chaotic preparations and Australia's early opener, Didier Deschamps may have been fearing the worst, but Les Bleus were ultimately good value for their win, which saw them take control of Group D following Denmark's draw with Tunisia.

Giroud matches Henry

Had Real Madrid's Ballon d'Or-winning forward Benzema been fit to feature against the Socceroos, Giroud would likely have been the player to miss out on a place in Deschamps' team.

However, Giroud – who played a key role in France's 2018 heroics in Russia – helped himself to a brace to draw level with Henry's tally of 51 goals for his country, hitting that number in eight fewer caps than the Arsenal great.

Rabiot takes centre stage

Injuries to Pogba and his 2018 World Cup-winning midfield partner N'Golo Kante opened the door for Rabiot to assume a central role in Qatar, and he did not let France down in their Group D opener.

Rabiot took the game by the scruff of the neck before the break, becoming the first France player to both score and assist a goal on his World Cup debut since Christophe Dugarry against South Africa in 1998

What's next?

France take on Denmark in their next Group D game on Saturday, while Australia face Tunisia on the same day.