Kylian Mbappe came off late on with a broken nose as France edged Austria 1-0 in their opening game at Euro 2024 on Monday, after Slovakia inflicted a surprise 1-0 defeat on Belgium and Romania beat Ukraine.
In the first match of the day, Romania won at a major international tournament for the first time in 24 years as they beat Ukraine 3-0 with the help of two errors from goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.
Romania beat error-prone Ukraine
Romania beat Ukraine 3-0, with the help of two errors from Lunin.
Romanian captain Nicolae Stanciu’s magnificent long-range strike gave Romania, backed by the vast majority of the Munich crowd, a first-half lead in their Group E opener.
Razvan Marin’s shot from distance then skipped under Lunin as Romania turned the screw with two more goals before the hour, Denis Dragus tapping home the third.
Slovakia stun Belgium
Slovakia caused the first upset at Euro 2024 as Ivan Schranz fired the underdogs to a 1-0 win against Belgium on Monday.
Francesco Calzona’s side are 45 spots below third-placed Belgium in Fifa’s world rankings.
But they made a mockery of the supposed quality gap between the teams with a courageous performance in Frankfurt.
“We played against a great opponent,” said Slovakia defender David Hancko. “We gave it our heart. We didn’t win it by being better, but by being happier.
“That makes the victory all the more gratifying. It’s amazing that we were able to do that.”
France edge Austria
Maximilian Woeber’s own goal was enough to give France a winning start to their Euro 2024 campaign as they edged Austria 1-0 in their opening game, but Kylian Mbappe came off late on with a broken nose.
Woeber diverted Mbappe’s cutback into his own net seven minutes before half-time in Duesseldorf to allow the French, one of the leading contenders to win the tournament, to come through a stiff test.
Austria have been much-improved under Ralf Rangnick and they often made life uncomfortable for the 2022 World Cup runners-up, who saw Mbappe leave the field near the end after being hurt in a collision.
He had earlier failed to convert a glorious chance that would have allowed France to win by a wider margin, and sources close to the player confirmed he had broken his nose in the accidental clash with Kevin Danso.
(Text from AFP)
