Olivier Giroud made history for France as the defending World Champions eased past Poland 3-1 at Al Thumama Stadium to move into the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup.
Kylian Mbappe continued his sublime form with another two-goal performance while Robert Lewandowski scored a consolation goal for his side late in the match which very few people around the globe expected his side to win.
Despite being the underdogs, Poland created the best chance of the game when Lloris parried away Piotr Zielenski’s shot which then came back into the midfielder’s path but was once again denied by Theo Hernandez. Jakub Kaminski almost scored from the rebound only for his shot to be saved close to the goalline by Raphael Varane.
Giroud calmed France’s nerves a minute before halftime when Mbappe found him with a clever pass and the striker fired past Wojciech Szczęsny for his 52nd international goal breaking a tie with the great Thierry Henry for the most goals for France.
It was his third goal of the tournament.
A more cautious second half followed until the 74th minute when Mbappe scored the first of his two goals with a powerful strike before curling a shot past Szczęsny in the 91st minute for his fifth goal of the tournament.
Poland finally got an opportunity to save face when Dayot Upamecano handled the ball allowing Robert Lewandowski a chance to score from the spot which he initially missed but was allowed to retake after Lloris did not stay on the line and the Polish captain made no mistake the second time.
France, after their win over Poland, will meet England in a mouth-watering tie to decide one of the four semifinalists in the Qatar World Cup.
