France survived a scare to get their World Cup campaign off to a winning start against Australia on Tuesday night.
Craig Goodwin handed the Socceroos a surprise lead just nine minutes into the Group D clash, but the reigning champions took over control of the game, with Adrien Rabiot heading in an equaliser. Olivier Giroud then scored his first World Cup goal in eight years to put Didier Deschamps' side in front.
Kylian Mbappe added a goal of his own with 20 minutes remaining before Giroud equaled Thierry Henry's all-time scoring record for France soon after. Here, Mirror Football looks at five talking points from the clash, with Les Bleus now top of their group.
Aussie hearts broken
After nine minutes of this clash, it looked like Tuesday would be a day of shocks at the 2022 World Cup, with Australia following Saudi Arabia's lead. The Green Falcons had claimed a surprise comeback win over Argentina in the day's first match.
Australia had won just two of their 16 games at the World Cup heading into the clash. But it looked like they would secure a stunning third win by beating the reigning champions in their opening match of the tournament.
Craig Goodwin ghosted in at the back post to hammering Matthew Leckie's cross and put the Socceroos ahead. While they were mostly disciplined after that opener, France gradually took control and broke Aussie hearts thanks to a dominant display after Goodwin's goal.
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More injury issues for France
France's preparations for this World Cup were heavily disrupted by a number of injuries to front-line players. N'Golo Kante, Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema were all ruled out of the tournament before a ball had been kicked.
Les Bleus suffered even more problems early into the clash at the Al Janoub Stadium. Lucas Hernandez pulled up with a leg problem as Matthew Leckie breezed past him to set Goodwin up to score.
Bayern Munich star Hernandez was forced to leave the pitch, with his brother Theo coming on to replace him at left-back. But it is an issue boss Didier Deschamps did not need after just one game of the tournament.
Giroud equals Henry record
Olivier Giroud had scored just one goal in the World Cup since making his debut in the tournament. That came eight years ago in Brazil, with the striker failing to even register a shot on target in Russia last time out.
His long wait for a second goal at a World Cup came to an end on Tuesday though as he put France ahead. It was a simple finish in all honesty, but the AC Milan star had done well to escape the attention of the Australian defence.
He then equaled Thierry Henry's record for the most goals scored from France with a goal midway through the second-half. He is now just one strike away from pulling clear of the Arsenal legend.
Socceroo misery continues
As previously mentioned, Australia continue to hold the miserable record of winning just two of their 17 games at the World Cup. They have now appeared in six tournaments in total, reaching the knockout stages just once in that time.
Arguably what does not help is the lack of players featuring in top level competitions from which boss Graham Arnold can pick a squad from. Their first-choice striker currently plays in the Japanese second tier, with none of their starting line-up playing in one of the top European leagues.
Despite early hopes of a famous win and a positive performance for the most part, it was still more misery for the Socceroos come full-time. Tunisia and Denmark are the other two teams in their group, with both sides looking likely to be a tough test.
Openings for French rivals
France may have claimed all three points, but Les Bleus' rivals to win the World Cup may have some positives to take from the Group D clash. Australia were regularly able to exploit openings in the French midfield, which did lead to several chances.
While the Socceroos were unable to take advantage of those chances, teams with more quality in attacking areas could exploit those openings. France boss Deschamps is dealing without several top options in his midfield, which could certainly hamper his bid to retain the World Cup title.
