France entered the match with qualification for next year’s tournament already sealed, having taken maximum points from their six prior games, and it was going to be almost impossible for that run to be disrupted against minnows Gibraltar. If the visitors to the French Riviera wanted to come away with anything from the game, their hopes were dashed inside the opening five minutes, thanks to two quick own-goals.
The first arrived as Ethan Santos diverted a Jonathan Clauss into his own net, and then Aymen Moulhi diverted a loose ball into an empty net after accidentally running onto Antoine Griezmann’s saved shot. Two soon became three after the quarter hour as Warren Zaire-Emery, the youngest debutant for France since 1911, fired a superb finish into the roof of the net.
That made Zaire-Emery the second youngest goalscorer for his national team, but the youngster’s historic night was unfortunately cut short, as he was stamped on while striking the ball, which resulted in a red card for Santos. If that wasn’t a dominant opening to the half, the run up to half-time was a different level from Les Bleus, as they notched four more times before the break.
First, Kylian Mbappe, who had been relatively quiet, fired from the penalty spot, then Clauss drilled an effort in from outside of the box. Kingsley Coman was having a field day down the right flank, and the Bayern Munich forward got in on the act, pouncing on a loose ball into the box to slot past Dayle Coleing.
The Gibraltar goalkeeper then found himself picking the ball out of his net again almost immediately, as Youssouf Fofana capped a destructive half of football with a pinpoint finish from outside of the box.
Gibraltar initially managed to hold their own early in the second half, but the barrage continued when Adrien Rabiot scored number eight just after the hour mark.
After keeping Les Bleus at bay for 20 minutes, the floodgates opened once again as Coman displayed nimble feet in the box to skip past the defence and chip the ball over Coleing.
Ousmane Dembele was introduced after the ninth goal and within minutes, the Paris Saint-Germain forward drifted in and out of the opposition defence before firing into the far corner.
Mbappe then notched the historic 11th goal with 15 minutes to go, marking a night to remember for Les Bleus, and then brought up a dozen for France, saving his best of the night for last, with a superb long-range finish from just past the halfway line.
Giroud matched Germany’s 13-0 scoreline over San Marino set in 2006 with his 55th international goal, and then finished off an empathic night for Didier Deschamps’ side with an overhead kick in stoppage time.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kylian Mbappe (France)
Check out all the stats from a record-breaking evening with Flashscore.
Elsewhere on a record-breaking evening, Israel were beaten 2-1 by Romania, whilst Switzerland drew 1-1 with Kosovo.
