Mbappe Scores But France Held To 1-1 Draw By Poland

By: Gyang Dakwo

A Kylian Mbappe penalty was cancelled out by Robert Lewandowski’s spot kick as already-eliminated Poland held France to a nervy 1-1 draw in Dortmund on Tuesday, meaning the French finish second in Group D.

Mbappe broke the deadlock in the 56th minute with his first European Championship goal – and the first scored by a French player at Euro 2024 – when he calmly slotted home a penalty given for Jakub Kiwior’s clumsy challenge on Ousmane Dembele.

The lead would have meant France topped the group regardless of the result of a see-saw game between Netherlands and Austria.

However, Dayot Upamecano brought down Polish substitute Karol Swiderksi, which allowed Lewandowski to level from the spot in the 79th minute – after his first effort was saved by Mike Maignan, who was adjudged to have advanced off his line too early.

With Austria then grabbing a later winner against the Dutch, the draw means France finish second in Group D behind Austria and will face whoever comes second in Group E, where Romania, Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine are all on three points.

It is the first time France have failed to finish top of their group at a major tournament in 12 years under manager Didier Deschamps.

“I’m not frustrated. The aim was to take first place but we had to win. As soon as you don’t win, you have to accept it,” Deschamps said.

“We did what we had to do, we had chances. You have to appreciate what we did. We achieved our first objective, even if we didn’t get the place we wanted”, he concluded.