Internationals: Barcola on target as 10-man France edge Iceland

Les Bleus were back in action on Tuesday evening, this time at the Parc des Princes to seal another three points. This time it was against a tough Iceland side that had initially taken the lead following an error from Michael Olise that saw Gudjohnsen open the scoring for the away side. But Didier Deschamps’ men responded just before half-time when Marcus Thuram was fouled in the box and captain Kylian Mbappé converted the resulting penalty (45’), moving onto 52 international goals and overtaking Thierry Henry as France’s second all-time top goal scorer.

Barcola with the breakthrough

The decisive moment came just after the hour mark. Aurélien Tchouaméni’s lofted pass released Mbappé, who unselfishly squared the ball for Bradley Barcola (62’) to score his second goal for Les Bleus, the Paris Saint-Germain winger turning home into an empty net to make it 2-1. France were forced to see out the final 20 minutes with ten men after Tchouaméni was sent off (68’) for a dangerous tackle. Les Bleus had a late scare when Gudjohnsen stumbled through the France defence and finished ahead of Konaté. The visitors thought they had levelled proceedings, but the referee consulted VAR and ruled out the late equaliser for a foul on the Liverpool defender. Les Bleus, despite being a man down - held on to their lead.

The win extends France’s unbeaten home run to over a year and follows their opening-day success against Ukraine. With six points from two matches, Deschamps’ side sit ahead of Iceland and Ukraine in Group D.

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