France narrowly beat Austria to get their Euro 2024 campaign off to a winning start

France kicked off their Euro 2024 tournament with a narrow 1-0 win vs Austria thanks to an own goal by Maximilian Wöber.

However Austria did not make it easy for the favourites of the tournament who were forced to work hard for their first three points of the tournament.

                                                                        Lars Baron/Getty Images

France took the lead in the 38th minute courtesy of an own goal by Wöber. Kylian Mbappe brilliantly created space for himself after dancing around Phillipp Mwene and then put the ball into a dangerous area. Unfortunately for the Austrian centre back Wöber, the ball deflected off his head before going into the bottom left hand corner of the goal which left Patrick Pentz frozen in his spot.

It was not the only involvement for Mbappe who recently completed a move to Real Madrid as he somehow missed a one-on-one when up against Pentz. The forward beat the Austrian defenders for pace to get through clear on goal but put his curled effort wide of the right hand post.

Mbappe ended his night with a bloody nose which resulted in his substitution in the 90th minute for Olivier Giroud who became the oldest Frenchman to play at the Euros.

Austria did manage to get chances of their own as well as having more possession than France but were unable to find the equaliser.

Christoph Baumgartner saw his effort go wide of the post via the feet of Mike Maignan after he was unable to properly connect with the ball.

Austrian fans also found themselves asking for a penalty in the 62nd minute when Marcel Sabitzer was outmuscled by a combination of William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano.

However France were able to hold on to all three points to get their campaign of to a winning start.