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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dominic Booth

France 3-1 Poland: Olivier Giroud breaks Thierry Henry’s goal record as French reach World Cup quarter-finals

Olivier Giroud’s record-breaking goal set France on course for a 3-1 victory over Poland, as they booked their spot in the World Cup quarter-finals.

Giroud made history with his 52nd goal for his country, overtaking Thierry Henry to become the all-time top goalscorer for Les Bleus.

Kylian Mbappe then scored twice to put himself on five goals for the tournament and leading the race for the Golden Boot.

France boss Didier Deschamps brought back his big guns, having rotated heavily in the 1-0 group stage defeat to Tunisia, and France dominated after a few early scares.

They quickly carved out chances for Raphael Varane, Ousmane Dembele and Auerelien Tchouameni but couldn’t find a way past Wojciech Szczesny early on.

The biggest chance before Giroud opened the scoring fell to the former Arsenal and Chelsea man on the half-hour mark, but he couldn’t covert Dembele’s cross on the slide at the back post.

Poland then threatened with Piotr Zielinski stinging the palms of Hugo Lloris, before a heroic goalline clearance from Varane.

But the Poles were made to pay for their profligacy when Giroud struck just before the break to surpassing Henry’s all-time French goal record.

Giroud then played a part in setting up the second for Mbappe, with the Paris Saint-Germain forward curling a fine finish into the top corner on 75 minutes.

Mbappe sealed victory with another sublime effort in stoppage time.

Robert Lewandowski scored a consolation for Poland from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game.

The win means defending champions France have secured a spot in the quarter-finals, where they could face England should Gareth Southgate’s side overcome Senegal.

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