Then Messi sent a curling free kick into the top left corner of the goal in the 78th minute, making it 3-0 and drawing gasps from the crowd of 53,885.
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Payet said he had been overcome by the way he has fought his way into the French team.
The last two tournaments that France hosted, Euro 1984 and the World Cup in 1998, they went on to take victory which could be the case yet again come July 10th.
“Dimitri Payet thought he was going to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil”. Tatarusanu denied a brilliant Paul Pogba effort, but within seconds he committed a bad mistake which led Olivier Giroud score the much needed first goal from Dimitri Payet’s cross around 58 minutes mark. Perhaps we were made to pay for that slightly – the opening ceremony, the first game of the tournament. “It solves quite a lot of problems”, said Deschamps. Eight minutes later, however, Stancu coolly converted a penalty after Patrice Evra’s clumsy foul on Nicolae Stanciu.
Early in the second half, Giroud made up for those missed chances when he slotted a header home, off a cross from Payet.
“I’d like to congratulate my players for having implemented all the tactical instructions I gave them”.
Even when Martial was introduced as France searched for the victor, Deschamps sacrificed star Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba to keep Payet in midfield from where his moment of magic decided the match. Whenever the Messi/Ronaldo Ballon d’Or era comes to an end, Pogba is one of the young players who will have an honest chance of getting their hands on the prized individual award, maybe even a couple of times.
“He gave us a match “a la Zidane”, with remarkable moves and incredible efficiency”, Zidane’s former France teammate Frank Leboeuf said on French TV on Sunday.
Even though he was coming off a superb season in the English Premier League with West Ham, Payet struggled to come to terms with what he had produced in the 89th minute – and burst into tears as he left the pitch after being substituted.
The host broke the deadlock in the 57th minute when Payet delivered a cross from the right, which was met by Giroud who rose well to beat Romanian keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu in the air before nodding into the unguarded net.
After the final whistle, match-winner Payet revealed his emotions after scoring decider in the opening match of the mega event.
This leaves France on top of Group A after one game Albania and Switzerland to play tomorrow. At the beginning of the game, they had chances, but we were able to react, we managed to score first and win.
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CLAIREFONTAINE, France – Olivier Giroud hopes that he has silenced the “mudslingers” who have jeered him in recent months and question whether he’s good enough for the France squad.
