Martial and Coman both took time to settle, the former well-patrolled by Hysaj, although the Bayern star, who just turned 20 on Monday, nearly scored at the start of the second half, heading just wide.
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The second cycle of matches in Euro 2016 begins, as two matches in Group A (Romania vs Switzerland, France vs Albania) and one from Group B (Russia vs Slovakia) will give us a much better picture of who is going to be in the round of 16.
Albania, desperate to make their mark in their first major tournament after an early red card scuppered their chances in their opening game against Switzerland, defended with gusto and nearly went ahead early in the second half when French full back Bacary Sagna bundled the ball against his own post.
The big news before kick-off was the axing of Paul Pogba and Griezmann by Deschamps.
The French will be hoping to continue their winning ways after their victory in the opening game against Romania, whilst Albania will be hoping to pick up some points after a disappointing defeat to Switzerland.
“He played for half an hour tonight and made the difference even though I know he would rather have started the game”.
France looked anything but Euro 2016 favourites as they laboured against a side ranked 42nd in the world, and were very almost on the end of a major upset with Albania rattling a post.
Coach Didier Deschamps replaced under-performing midfielder Paul Pogba with Anthony Martial while Kingsley Coman replaced Griezmann for France’s first game at the Stade Velodrome since their triumphant World Cup campaign in 1998. Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud scored from a header, and should have scored a second; he looks to have silenced his critics who booed him off during the warm up games.
Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Lloris, 29, said he is confident that Pogba will become more influential the longer the tournament goes on. If we can score the goals we haven’t so far we can definitely get the points we need to get into the next round.
France are easily the best team in this group and came through a frustrating encounter with Romania on Friday night.
Bet365 make France 2/9 with Albania priced at 18/1.
Albania is not the only team using that recipe to stretch higher-ranked opponents in France.
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Albania will have to be careful because they will be without captain Lorik Cana, who will be missing through suspension after receiving two yellow cards in the first-half of their opening game on Saturday.
