France women make statement in historic victory over England | OneFootball

Heading into the UEFA Women’s Euros, France were perhaps the biggest enigma of the competition in Switzerland.

On Saturday, Laurent Bonadei’s team answered a lot of questions surrounding their squad at this tournament, while making a statement against England.

Les Bleues came away with a 2-1 win over the reigning champions and the World Cup runners-up in 2023.

Goals from Sandy Baltimore (25) and Marie-Antoinette Katoto (26) gave them a well-deserved three points over the Lionesses.

With the victory, Les Bleues became the first nation in the history of this competition to defeat the reigning champions in their opening fixture.

In addition to that, France can book a place in the quarter-finals on Wednesday with a win against Wales, combined with the Netherlands beating England.

The French were drawn into arguably the toughest group at the Euros in Switzerland, having to face the last two winners of this event, along with an up-and-coming Welsh side. While France gave up a late goal to Keira Walsh (28) and had a few anxious moments in the latter stages, they earned the victory and were the better team for large swathes of the match.

Bonadei made headlines with his team selections for this tournament, going with a less experienced side, leaving record cap holder and goalscorer Eugénie Le Sommer (36) along with veteran Wendie Renard (34) out of the squad.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre