France recorded their biggest-ever victory with a 14-0 rout of 10-man Gibraltar in a Euro 2024 Group B qualifier on Saturday as Kylian Mbappe grabbed a hat-trick and Warren Zaire-Emery scored on his debut.
France were 7-0 up by halftime with Marcus Thuram, Zaire-Emery, Mbappe, Jonathan Clauss, Kingsley Coman, and Youssouf Fofana on the scoresheet after they had taken the lead through a third-minute own goal.
Gibraltar were reduced to 10 men in the 18th minute and France’s biggest ever win, 10-0 over Azerbaijan in 1995, was clearly within sight.
Adrien Rabiot and Coman’s second brought the record closer and Ousmane Dembele made it 10-0 before Mbappe scored twice and Olivier Giroud got in on the act with two late goals to complete the demolition job.
Meanwhile, Romania reached just a second major tournament since 2008 by ending Israel’s chances of automatic qualification with a 2-1 win.
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Despite being forced to play what should have been a home fixture in Hungary due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israel went in front after just two minutes through Eran Zahavi.
But Romania hit back quickly to level through George Puscas and secured their place in Germany thanks to Ianis Hagi, son of Gheorghe Hagi who inspired the Romanians famous run to the 1994 World Cup quarter-finals.
Switzerland also qualified despite being held 1-1 at home by Kosovo.
Romania are now in pole position to win Group I with a draw at home to the Swiss on Tuesday enough to secure top spot.
Wales’ hopes of reaching a third consecutive European Championship were dealt a huge blow by a 1-1 draw away to Armenia.
Rob Page’s men began the day with automatic qualification in their own hands.
But Wales fell behind early on to Lucas Zelarayan’s strike from outside the box in Yerevan.
Nair Tiknizyan’s own goal brought the visitors level before half-time, but Wales failed to find a winner that leaves them needing Croatia to slip up.
The 2022 World Cup semi-finalists moved into second place in Group D thanks to a 2-0 win in Latvia as Lovro Majer and Andrej Kramaric struck inside the first 16 minutes.
Wales must beat already-qualified Turkey in Cardiff on Tuesday and hope Croatia fail to beat Armenia at home.
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