18th November, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
France demolished Gibraltar 14-0 on Saturday to record the biggest victory by any team in a European qualifier tournament.
The biggest victory in a European qualifier was recorded in 2006 when Germany demolished San Marino 13-0.
Kylian Mbappe hit a hat-trick and Olivier Giroud got a brace in France’s rout of lowly Gibraltar.
France opened the scoring in just three minutes from an own goal by Ethan Santos, who put the ball into his own net.
A minute later Marcus Thuram received a killer pass and scored a great goal after finding the back of the net with a simple finish to make it 2-0.
A precise cutback on the goal line from Kingsley Coman found Warren Zaire-Emery right in front of the goal, and he easily buried the ball in the roof of the net in the 16th minute.
Things got worse for the visitors when Ethan Santos received a red card and was sent off.
Mbappe won the battle of wills from the penalty spot by sending an unstoppable penalty past Dayle Coleing into the bottom left corner for France’s fourth goal.
France were 5-0 up in 34 minutes. Jonathan Clauss got to the ball and unleashed a strong shot from distance. It turned out to be a good decision as his effort found its way into the bottom left corner.
Two minutes later Kingsley Coman was in the right place at the right time to get to the rebound inside the box and gleefully rifled the ball into the left side of the goal to make it 6-0.
Dominant France made it 7-0 in the 37th minute. Youssouf Fofana collected a pass and without hesitation fired an unstoppable low shot into the middle of the net.
Adrien Rabiot fired a rebound into the bottom right corner after the ball broke to him in the box on 63 minutes to make it 8-0.
Two minutes later, Kingsley Coman scored a brilliant goal. He collected a well-executed pass that had put him one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He took the goal-scoring opportunity with a shot to the middle of the goal past the keeper to make it 9-0.
Ousmane Dembele scored France’s 10th goal after making a great solo run and pulling the trigger from inside the box, beating Dayle Coleing with a strike into the bottom left corner.
In the 74th minute, a precise cut back on the goal line from Theo Hernandez found Mbappe right in front of goal, and he easily buried the ball into the bottom left corner for France’s 11th goal.
Mbappe added the 12th goal in the 82nd minute. He scored a cracking goal from long range.
A minute to duration, Giroud scored a wonderful goal. He made a yard for himself after a well-taken pass inside the box and netted low into the middle of the goal.
Giroud got his brace on added time. He showed great determination to get to the ball inside the box and acrobatically launched himself into the air and produced a scissor kick of the highest quality to leave Dayle Coleing helpless to make 14-0 for France.