Mbappe has a successful debut as France’s captain.

With two goals and an assist in his debut match as France captain on Friday, the World Cup champions romped to a 4-0 victory over a depleted Netherlands team in a Euro 2024 qualifier in Paris.

Hugo Lloris has been replaced as the longtime captain of France by Kylian Mbappe, and the new era got off to a flying start as the superstar of Paris Saint-Germain set up the pink-haired Antoine Griezmann to score within of two minutes.

Before the halfway mark of the first half, Dayot Upamecano scored his second goal and Mbappe added his name to the score sheet to make it 3-0.

Two minutes from the end, Mbappe effectively sealed the victory, and Memphis Depay of the Netherlands saw his stoppage-time penalty saved by goalie Mike Maignan.

The French team, led by Didier Deschamps, displayed merciless efficiency over the Dutch team, who was missing several important players due to an illness that spread throughout their roster.

They can at least comfort themselves by knowing that their next match is Monday’s encounter against Gibraltar at home, which was their toughest assignment in qualifying Group B.

The French will now play the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, but considering that the top two teams from each group advance, it will take an extraordinary event for them to fail to qualify for the Euros in 2019.

France had not played since being defeated by Argentina in the World Cup final on penalties little over three months prior.

Lloris and center-back Raphael Varane retired; they were honored on the Stade de France field prior to kickoff; Ousmane Dembele is injured; and Olivier Giroud started on the bench. As a result, Deschamps’ team made four changes from that contest.

Maignan from AC Milan started in goal while Ibrahima Konate from Liverpool took over in the center of defense. Kingsley Coman and Randal Kolo Muani, two players who came off the bench in the Doha final, also received starts.

For a variety of reasons, the Netherlands, led by Ronald Koeman, were without Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Sven Botman, Denzel Dumfries, and Frenkie de Jong.

With brutal efficiency
They were completely defeated by France in a stunning opening.

After assuming the armband, Mbappe has pledged to play a unifying role for his nation, however he also acknowledged Griezmann’s disappointment at being passed over by Deschamps for the captaincy.

Mbappe typically shapes to shoot toward the far corner when he receives the ball on the left side of the area.

It was telling that he didn’t in the second minute, instead to play a square pass for the advancing Griezmann to finish on the first attempt.

The second was then set up by Griezmann, who was once again playing in the midfield position that he so expertly mastered at the World Cup.

The Bayern Munich defender Upamecano had an easy finish after Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen mishandled his whipped free-kick from the right.

The third goal had a touch of true polish to it because Kolo Muani absolutely ignored Aurelien Tchouameni’s through ball, which helped the Netherlands defense and allowed Mbappe to get past the goalkeeper.

With just 30% of the control and a 3-0 lead, Koeman substituted Wout Weghorst of Manchester United for Ajax midfielder Kenneth Taylor just before halftime.

Before halftime, only a superb Cillessen save on a Konate header kept France from adding another goal, and substitute Moussa Diaby later had a goal disallowed.

But two minutes from time, Mbappe put the game away by pounced on a loose ball and sending a shot through Jurrien Timber’s legs and into the bottom corner.

Maignan ended the game by saving Depay’s penalty after an Upamecano handball resulted in it.