FIFA World Cup 2022 France vs Poland Highlights: Mbappe Nets Brace, Giroud Scores; FRA 3-1 POL

FULL TIME! Kylian Mbappe netted a brace as Olivier Giroud scored a record-breaking goal to help France beat Poland 3-1 and book their place in the quarter-finals

Robert Lewandowski pulled on back from the penalty spot with the last kick of the match for Poland.

90+9′ – GOAL! Dayot Upamecano was deemed to have handled the ball in the penalty box after a VAR check and Robert Lewandowski scores to pull one back for Poland against France!

90+1′ – GOAL! Kylian Mbappe scores his second and increases the lead to three for France against Poland!

74′ – GOAL! Kylian Mbappe doubles the lead for France against Poland!

Olivier Giroud gets the ball in defence and passes it onto Ousmane Dembele, who sent Mbappe through. He uses his pace to cut inside and shoots past a helpless Wojciech Szczesny.

65′ – Poland’s attacks have not yielded much as the French have managed to keep them out with relative ease.

2ND HALF! France and Poland get back us underway in their round of 16 clash game. Les Blues lead through Olivier Giroud’s record goal!

HALF TIME! Olivier Giroud’s record goal gives France the lead against Poland at the break!

Olivier Giroud became France’s all-time top scorer after his strike before the break gave the holders a 1-0 lead over Poland at halftime in their World Cup last-16 clash on Sunday.

Holders France dominated the opening exchanges and Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny denied Aurelien Tchouameni and Ousmane Dembele before Kylian Mbappe set up Giroud to fire home in the 44th minute.

44′ – GOAL! Olivier Giroud scores for France, to become the nation’s leading goalscorer, against Poland!

Dayot Upamecano passed the ball to Kylian Mbappe on the left, who in turn, threaded it down the side to Giroud. The forward clipped a shot past Szczesny as the ball went into the corner for his 52nd goal for Les Bleus, one more than Thierry Henry.

40′ – Robert Lewandowski too has been kept quiet so far but Poland’s Piotr Zielinski got his shot saved by Hugo Lloris. The Polish have grown in confidence as the half progressed as France have failed to score from their chances.

30′ – It has been France attacking so far with Poland sitting back and hoping for counters. The plan has worked with the defending champs missing chance after chance.

15′ – France’s Kylian Mbappe has been the focus of attack so far and undertably, the Polish defenders have kept a close eye on the forward.

KICK OFF! France and Poland get us underway in their round of 16 clash game at the Al Thummama Stadium!

Robert Lewandowski, Poland forward, speaking to ZDF: “Reaching the Round of 16 is a great achievement for us. It’ll be difficult against France; we’ll need to remain focused. I know that it wasn’t our best performance today [against Argentina]. But if we prepare better, if we can work on improving what didn’t work today, and if we give our all, we’ll definitely have a chance.”

Didier Deschamps, France coach: “We could have equalised against Tunisia, but the goal was chalked off. We’ve achieved our objective, though, and now a second competition is about to start.”

• Griezmann makes make his 71st successive appearance for France, an all-time national record.
• With 136 matches and 77 goals on the international stage under his belt, Lewandowski is not only his country’s most-capped player, but he is also its all-time leading goalscorer – by quite some distance.

Here is how Poland line-up: Wojciech Szczesny; Matty Cash, Kamil Glik, Jakub Kiwior, Bartosz Bereszynski; Grzegorz Krychowiak; Jakub Kaminski, Sebastian Szymanski, Piotr Zielinski, Przemyslaw Frankowski; Robert Lewandowski (capt)

Poland Formations: 4-1-4-1

Coach: Czeslaw Michniewicz (POL)

Here is how France line-up: Hugo Lloris (capt); Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe; Olivier Giroud

France Formations: 4-2-3-1

Coach: Didier Deschamps (FRA)

Reigning world champions France have advanced to the knockout phase of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and that is an achievement in and of itself, given how the holders have fared over the past 16 years.

Infamously, Italy, Spain and Germany all failed to extricate themselves from their groups while attempting to defend their title in 2010, 2014 and 2018 respectively. And while Didier Deschamps and his men will be glad to have bucked that undesirable trend, they now have their sights set on overcoming the next obstacle in their path.

Poland, the obstacle in question, booked their place in the Round of 16 for the first time since 1986 by the tightest of margins, despite losing their Group C clash with Argentina 2-0 on Wednesday.

Robert Lewandowski and Co will certainly not be viewed as favourites against Les Bleus, but they will likely draw inspiration from Tunisia, who beat France 1-0 in their final group match. And while the French line-up had undergone a number of changes prior to the shock defeat, the team appeared more vulnerable than at the beginning of the tournament. Could the Poles also spring a surprise?