Kylian Mbappe scored both goals for France as they defeated Denmark 2-1 in their Qatar 2022 World Cup Group D clash in Doha tonight.
With the win, France became the first team to advance to the round of 16. They have six points from two games having won their opening fixture against Australia on Tuesday.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward’s goals sandwiched Andreas Christensen’s effort for Denmark, which had tied the game.
The fixture did not come to life until after the break, with both sides struggling to create clear-cut opportunities in the opening period.
France were the far more dangerous side throughout the first half though, and had a good chance to grab the lead in the 21st minute when an Adrien Rabiot header forced a diving save from Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Mbappe, 23, then got his side in front one minute after the hour mark for his second goal of the competition.
Denmark, who played a drab draw with Tunisia in their first game, levelled up the match through Christensen’s header seven minutes later as they sought their first win.
Mbappe netted the decisive goal with just four minutes left on the clock, taking his tally in Qatar to three and becoming the joint-top scorer with Ecuador’s Enner Valencia.
The PSG star has now gone level with Zinedine Zidane as France’s joint seventh top goal scorer of all time.
He is just 20 goals behind joint leaders Olivier Giroud and Thierry Henry (51).
France’s progress to the round of 16 ended a run of three successive World Cups in which the defending champions crashed out at the group stages.
Comments are closed.