MADRID, 25 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The French national team defeated Ivory Coast (2-1) this Friday in a friendly match played at the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille, thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud and Aurélien Tchouaméni, the latter in the 93rd minute with a very powerful header .
Didier Deschamps’ team, without Kylian Mbappé due to an infection or Benzema due to injury, had many problems to overcome the African team in their first preparation match for the World Cup in Qatar this year. The ‘bleus’ took time to carburete and started losing with a goal from ‘gunner’ Nicolas Pépé after 20 minutes.
However, the reaction was immediate and Giroud -in a cross from Theo Hernández- scored at will in the small area two minutes later. The game continued to be dominated by France but the Ivorians, with Betis Paul Akouokou as their debutant, did not suffer excessively except in some sections with the depth of Griezmann, who played 75 minutes but could not see the goal.
And when everything pointed to a tie, the French team took advantage of the last breath to establish the final 2-1 with a great shot by Tchouaméni from a pass from Mattéo Guendouzi, who was in charge of kicking the corner after extra time. The reigning world champions will play another friendly next Tuesday against South Africa (9:15 p.m.) at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille.
In addition, in other friendly matches this Friday, Norway -which will not play in the World Cup- beat Slovakia (2-0) with goals from Haaland and Odegaard; Greece beat Romania (0-1) with a goal from Olympiacos player Andreas Bouchalakis; while Georgia surprised Bosnia (0-1) away from home with a goal from Budu Zivzivadze.