Mbappe inspires 10-man France to Brazil win

BOSTON, March 26 : France started their preparations for the World Cup in convincing fashion as Kylian Mbappe inspired them to a 2-1 friendly win over Brazil despite being reduced to 10 men early in the second half on Thursday.

Captain Mbappe, showing no sign of the knee problems that had troubled him in recent weeks, opened the scoring in the first half, while Hugo Ekitike found the net after Dayot Upamecano was sent off 10 minutes into the second half.

Gleison Bremer pulled one goal back for Brazil.

While the French defence, without the injured Jules Kounde and William Saliba, was shaky at times, their attacking firepower was too much to handle for Brazil, who lacked creativity in the midfield.

Mbappe now has 56 goals with France and is just one shy of Olivier Giroud’s record, which he could at least equal when Didier Deschamps’s side take on Colombia in another friendly in Landover, Maryland, on Sunday.

"For us, it was not a friendly. Playing Brazil is a great opportunity to see where we stand tactically and technically. It’s great to play matches like this. I said before the game we should not draw conclusions from it, so I’m not going to be hypocritical and treat it like a World Cup final," said Mbappe.

"We showed creativity and remained solid. We’re moving forward. All I want is to be on the pitch and play — every kid dreams of playing a France-Brazil match. I know it’s a privilege.”

France carried an early threat on the break against a Brazil side intent on pushing forward.

Didier Deschamps’s team struck first in the 32nd minute through Mbappe after a sharp transition. Aurelien Tchouameni won back possession and fed Ousmane Dembele, who released Mbappe into space down the right and the France captain accelerated clear of