Didier Deschamps French team preparing for “a fight” in Dublin after destroying Dutch side in Paris

World Cup runners up France cruised to a 4-0 win over the Netherlands in Paris on Friday evening.

“It was a very nice evening with this atmosphere, the Stade de France full and a very good start (three goals up inside 21 minutes) where we were very effective,” said Didier Deschamps after this team’s 4-0 win over the Dutch on Friday night in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier.

“It allowed us to manage in the second half while being dangerous since we scored a fourth goal. It's a very good start for us in this qualifying phase.”

With much discussion ahead of the game about the captain’s armband going to Kylian Mbappe and not Antoine Griezmann, Deschamps addressed the issue post-match when speaking to fff.fr.

The new French skipper provided Griezmann the assist for the first French goal inside the opening two minutes of the match.

“They are two players who get along well, work well, always. They have the same desire: for the French team to perform well. If the disappointment (not to have been named captain) lasted a moment for Antoine, he does not have the slightest concern between him and Kylian.”

Six minutes after Griezmann put Les Blues a goal up, Dayot Upamecano added another, with Mbappe getting on the scoresheet before the game had reached the quarter mark. The new captain rounded off the win with the home side’s fourth goal two minutes from time in a game that the Dutch will want to forget.

Ronald Koeman’s assessment was fairly blunt afterwards. “We didn't measure up,” said the Netherlands manager. “There was nothing positive. We showed major shortcomings in all areas of the game, our opponent was too strong.” 

Next up for Didier Deschamps’ side is, of course, a trip to Dublin to take on the Republic of Ireland and Les Blues will train at Lansdowne Road on the eve of Monday’s match. The French boss said he hasn’t decided on his team for that European Qualifier.

“It is possible that there will be some changes but I have no fixed idea. I think Ireland watched us from the comfort of their chair and we have another fight to fight on Monday night.”

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— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) March 25, 2023