France kicked their Euro 16 campaign off against Romania on Friday evening at the Stade de France, coming into the tournament highly tipped to dethrone two-time defending champions Spain.
The hosts would claim a close 2-1 victory, leaving it late to take the lead through an absolute screamer from West Ham man Dimitri Payet
Their starting lineup was a very potent one, featuring hotshot Antoine Griezmann up front, along with stars such as Dimitri Payet, Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante. Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud led the line.
Griezmann was cursing his luck five minutes later, hitting the post with a close header following Bacary Sagna's cross which the Romanian defence made a mess out of clearing.
The Atletico Madrid man came close to scoring again, receiving a pass from Payet from the right wing around the 37th minute and smashing a shot just wide.
The half ended with Giroud hitting a header over the crossbar, beckoning a huge collective groan from the agonized French crowd.
Romania began the second half just like they did the first, almost going ahead three minutes into the period, following a pass from Stanciu to Bogdan Stancu, who attempted a scissor kick that wasn't quite caught cleanly enough to hit the target.
France didn't take very long to get into it, though. Giroud hit a shot straight at the keeper four minutes removed, then Payet set Pogba up with a shot from the top of the box, which the Juventus midfielder rifled.
Giroud finally got his goal, after several poor attempts, beating keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu to Payet's clipped ball and putting it into the back of the net in the 57th minute. Giroud really had no business getting to that ball, as it should have easily been caught by Tatarusanu.
Romania struck back less than 10 minutes later, with Stancu beating Lloris with a penalty to equalise at 1-1; the result of Patrice Evra clipping Stanciu in the box.
It looked like the teams were headed for a draw, but Payet had other ideas, coming up with a wonder-goal in the 89th minute to put France ahead. The West Ham player - who's apparently better than Zidane - picked the ball up from around 30 yards, stuck his head up and whipped a spectacularly driven shot into Romania's goal
There would be no coming back for Romania this time, with France claiming all of the the plaudits in their first match of the tournament.
Payet was certainly France's top performer on the night. An absolute class performance from the midfielder who will surely be one to watch as the competition moves along.
Starting Lineups
France: Lloris, Sagna, Koscielny, Rami, Evra, Kante, Matuidi, Pogba, Griezmann, Payet, Giroud
Romania: Tatarusanu, Sapunaru, Grigore, Chiriches, Rat, Hoban, Pintilii, Stanciu, Popa, Stancu, Andone
