ANKARA (AA) – France beat Albania 2-0 in Euro 2016 Group A match Wednesday evening at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, thanks to two goals in the last six minutes.
Championship host France dominated the match in the second half but were unable to score until the 89th minute, when Atletico Madrid’s striker, Antoine Griezmann, placed a well-timed header into Albanian goal post.
Dimitri Payet, who scored two goals in two matches, secured the lead in extra time, giving his team a 2-0 victory.
Albania, who are participating in the international tournament’s finals for the first time ever, were able to make France miss their chances throughout the match, but could not prevent the crucial goals.
France’s Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud both had to watch their shots blocked against Albania, who defended their goal with their whole 11 players in the last 15 minutes.
Albania also tried to snatch three points with counter-attacks in the final minutes but France did not give them any chance.
The win meant a top spot for France above Switzerland in Group A.
Here are the standings in Group A:
|
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
+/- |
Pts. |
|
|
1 |
France |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
|
2 |
Switzerland |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
3 |
Romania |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
1 |
|
4 |
Albania |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
0 |
