Substitute Antoine Griezmann eased France\u2019s frustration in Marseille with a 90th-minute header, before Dimitri Payet made certain, as Les Bleus overcame a dogged Albania side to become the first team into the UEFA EURO 2016 knockout stage.<\/p>\n
Didier Deschamps\u2019 men were running out of time and ideas when Griezmann met Adil Rami\u2019s cross from the right, breaking Albanian hearts. Payet curled in a second in the sixth minute of additional time, giving the Group A scoreline a somewhat flattering appearance.<\/p>\n
Gianni De Biasi\u2019s\u00a0disciplined charges had made light of the absence of their suspended captain, 91-cap former Marseille player Lorik Cana.<\/p>\n
Set up in a 4-5-1 system, they did their best to quell the partisan crowd. Albania negotiated the first period with little cause for alarm, their relative comfort highlighted by the fact their opponents failed to register a shot on target.<\/p>\n
France survived a scare early in the second half when they laboured to deal with\u00a0Armando Sadiku\u2019s cross into the area, the ball hitting Bacary Sagna and striking Hugo Lloris\u2019s left-hand upright.<\/p>\n
Substitute Paul Pogba blazed over as the contest became increasingly frenetic, before the in-form Olivier Giroud headed a Patrice Evra centre against a post.<\/p>\n
They were saved by Griezmann, Payet\u2019s strike then icing the cake. Man of the match: Dimitri Payet France\u2019s match-winner in the opening game, the West Ham man did it again as he capped off an impressive display with the last-gasp effort that clinched it on his old stomping ground in Marseille. His set pieces caused Albania plenty of crosses and he created six chances for his team-mates.<\/p>\n
He was No1 on the Player Barometer before today; he will take some shifting on this evidence. Hot streak ends Olivier Giroud entered the game having scored eight goals in his last six starts.<\/p>\n
He spurned his best chance after 68 minutes, glancing wide Kingsley Coman\u2019s left-wing delivery. Moments later the No9 rattled the woodwork, an unsatisfying evening\u2019s work coming to a close when he was replaced by local favourite Andr\u00e9-Pierre Gignac with 14 minutes left.<\/p>\n
Tactical switches <\/strong><\/p>\n Deschamps\u2019 dalliance with 4-2-3-1 \u2013\u00a0he had drafted in Coman and Anthony Martial for Griezmann and Pogba respectively \u2013\u00a0did not last long. With France having lacked any sort of fluency, Martial made way for Pogba at the interval and immediately the two-time winners asked more questions of the opposition.<\/p>\n Une ambiance extraordinaire\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n Stade V\u00e9lodrome had witnessed a couple of memorable France victories \u2013\u00a0the extra-time thriller against Portugal in the EURO \u201984 semis and the 3-0 defeat of South Africa in the hosts\u2019 1998 FIFA World Cup opener.<\/p>\n Tonight was another, the 68,000 fans helping to generate what Emmanuel Petit, who played in that latter match, referred to in Wednesday\u2019s edition of regional newspaper La Provence as the stadium\u2019s \u201cawesome atmosphere\u201d.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: UEFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Substitute Antoine Griezmann eased France\u2019s frustration in Marseille with a 90th-minute header, before Dimitri Payet made certain, as Les Bleus overcame a dogged Albania side to become the first team into the UEFA EURO 2016 knockout stage. Didier Deschamps\u2019 men were running out of time and ideas when Griezmann met Adil Rami\u2019s cross from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":222822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n