France demolish Australia to begin World Cup defence in style

Olivier Giroud equalled France's all-time goalscoring record as his brace helped the holders recover from an early scare to make light work of Australia and begin their World Cup defence with a comfortable victory.

A number of injures rocked the France squad heading into the finals and they were stunned as Craig Goodwin opened the scoring on nine minutes before rallying to record a 4-1 win.

Adrien Rabiot levelled before setting up Giroud for his 50th France goal, Kylian Mpabbe heading in the third before Giroud struck again to level Thierry Henry’s record.

Even with Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Presnel Kimpembe, Christopher Nkunku and Paul Pogba all missing the finals through injury and Raphael Varane only fit enough for the bench, Les Bleus showed their tournament credentials.

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Argentina had slipped up earlier in the day by losing to Saudi Arabia in one of the biggest World Cup shocks of all time and France boss Didier Deschamps will be happy his side did not go the same way after Australia took a shock lead.

Goodwin arrived at the back post to convert from a low Mathew Leckie cross, with Lucas Hernandez adding another name to France's injury list as he limped off to be replaced by younger brother Theo after seemingly twisting a knee in the build-up.

Mitch Duke almost stunned France with a brilliant second, collecting the ball following a loose back-pass from Theo Hernandez and firing inches over from outside the box.

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