EURO 2020: France ease past Wales in friendly as Karim Benzema shines on his international return
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France earned a comfortable victory over Wales in their first Euro 2020 warm match, winning it by a 3-0 margin. Karim Benzema returned to the international starting lineup for the French after 6 long years and gelled well on the pitch with his teammates.
Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Greizmann and Ousmane Dembele all scored for the French as Wales were reduced to 10-men in the first half with a dubious red card decision.
Karim Benzema missed his first half penalty on his return to the France team after 6 years
Neco Williams was sent on off in the 26th minute after having been deemed to have denied Benzema a clear goal scoring opportunity and a penalty was awarded for the hosts.
Benzema’s fairytale moment of scoring from the spot on his return was however denied by Wales goalkeeper, Danny Ward. The penalty miss meant that the French have missed 5 of their last 7 penalties.
France, though made amends for Benzema’s miss as Kylian Mbappe scored from close range to give Les Bleus the lead. Antoine Griezmann doubled their lead in the second half through a sumptuous curled finish into the top corner.
Benzema led the line for France as his teammates gave him the ball whenever possible throughout the match. The striker came close to scoring on many occasions but failed to get it past Dan Ward in Wales’ goal.
Benzema’s brutal shot struck the post and ricocheted off to Dembele who was unmarked near goal and scored the third goal for France.
A win for the Les Bleus bodes perfectly well for Didier Deschamps side who are one of the favourites to win the Euros this summer. France are placed in Group H along with Portugal, Germany and Hungary and play their first match against the Germans.
Also Read: EURO 2020: Alexander Arnold suffers injury, as England edge past Austria in warm-up friendly
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