France eventually proved too strong for Senegal, scoring three times in the final 24 minutes to secure a hard-fought 3-1 victory in one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the FIFA World Cup.
In front of a crowd of 80,545 spectators, Didier Deschamps’ side were pushed all the way by the African champions, who matched the 2018 world champions for long periods and even threatened to produce a famous upset.
Senegal started brightly and nearly stunned France inside the opening half-hour. Ismaila Sarr caused early problems down the flank, while Nicolas Jackson came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 25th minute when he struck the post after finding space inside the penalty area.
France struggled to create clear openings against Senegal’s compact defensive shape, although Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise both tested the Eagles of Teranga as the first half ended goalless.
Désiré Doué fired narrowly wide moments into the second half before Edouard Mendy produced an excellent save to deny Olise. France then thought they had a penalty when Kylian Mbappé went down under pressure inside the box, but after a VAR review referee Alireza Faghani ruled there had been no infringement.
Senegal continued to threaten on the counterattack and briefly celebrated what appeared to be an opening goal through Nicolas Jackson, only for the striker’s effort to be ruled out for offside.
Just two minutes later, France finally found the breakthrough. A slick passing move carved open the Senegal defence and Mbappé applied the finishing touch, firing low beyond Mendy in the 66th minute to make it 1-0.
Senegal continued to push for an equaliser, but France looked increasingly dangerous whenever they broke forward. Their advantage was doubled eight minutes from time when Adrien Rabiot slipped Bradley Barcola through on goal, and the substitute produced a delicate chipped finish to put the result seemingly beyond doubt.
The scoreline, however, did not tell the full story. senegal refused to surrender and were rewarded in stoppage time when substitute Ibrahim Mbaye finished confidently from inside the area after France failed to clear their lines.
Deep into added time, Mbappé produced a moment of brilliance to cap the evening, unleashing a thunderous long-range strike that flew into the top corner to restore France’s two-goal cushion and seal a 3-1 victory.
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The result gives France a winning start to their World Cup campaign and underlines their status among the tournament favourites. The defeat will be painful, but their performance offered plenty of encouragement as they demonstrated they can compete with one of the strongest squads in world football.
Ultimately, the difference was quality in the decisive moments, and once again Mbappé delivered when France needed him most.
