With coach Didier Deschamps absent after the passing of his mother, France paid tribute with a thumping 4-1 victory over Norway to secure first place in Group I with an inspirational Ousmane Dembélé scoring a first-half hat-trick.
The Paris Saint-Germain attacker produced the second-fastest hat-trick in World Cup history with all three assists coming from Real Madrid players. The first two originated from the boots of the team’s captain, Kylian Mbappé. The first came on seven minutes with good vision
to spread the ball wide for the ex-Barcelona man to cut in and finish, while Mbappé did well to hold off pressure from defender Leo Østigard and tee up the second.
Some 25 minutes after opening the scoring, Dembélé’s third came from a pass from Aurélien Tchouameni to the winger who fired in from the edge of the box on 32 minutes. Tchouameni returned to the side after being absent against Iraq with a minor knock, and was imperious in midfield.
In the second period, former Real Madrid left-back Theo Hernández gave away a penalty kick with a clumsy trip on Norway’s Oscar Bobb, but Jørgen Strand Larsen’s penalty was easily saved by Mike Maignan in goal. Maignan’s stop was the first in-game penalty save by a French goalkeeper at the World Cup in 40 years. Late on, Désiré Doué made it 4-1 with an injury-time header.
On the bench, there were also minutes for summer signing Ibrahima Konaté. The recent arrival from Liverpool played his first 14 minutes of the tournament off the bench, having seen Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix, making only his fifth international appearance at the age of 26, start ahead of him alongside Dayot Upamecano.
In the opposing dugout, former Real Madrid player Martin Ødegaard was an unused substitute for Norway as coach Ståle Solbakken opted to rotate and rested several key players.
