Euro 2016: Late goals rescue France against Albania

France advanced to the knockout stages of the European Championship with a 2-0 win over Albania.

France’s Dimitri Payet celebrates after scoring against Albania.

A 90th-minute header by substitute striker Antoine Griezmann and a stoppage-time special by Dimitri Payet secured France a heart-stopping 2-0 win over Albania that sent the hosts through as the first team into the knockout stages of euro 2016.

France had struggled to make any impression on Albania’s determined defence, and as the clock ticked into the last minute neither team had managed a single shot on target.

France had needed an 89th-minute Payet goal to beat Romania in their first game and the winner came even later this time when centreback Adil Rami swung in a hopeful cross that Griezmann guided home.

The Stade Velodrome crowd erupted in a wave of noise, which was repeated five minutes later when Payet cut inside to smash in the second.

With six points, France are guaranteed to finish in the top two of Group A, with Switzerland, on four points after 1-1 draw with Romania earlier, favourites to join them in the knockout phase.

“It would be good if we could avoid that type of crazy scenario,” Payet said after picking up his second successive man of the match award. “What we have to do is start matches the way we started the second half. With Paul (Pogba) and Griezou (Griezmann) coming on and a different system, it worked a lot better.”

It needed to — France were hesitant and risk-averse in a forgettable first half as the ploy of using the speed of Kingsley Coman and Anthony Martial out wide failed to pay off.

Albania, desperate to make their mark in their first major tournament, defended with gusto and almost went ahead early in the second half when French fullback Bacary Sagna bundled the ball against his own post.

With the halftime introduction of Pogba and then Griezmann, France eventually started moving as Olivier Giroud sent a header wide and then thumped another against a post.

“We didn’t do enough in the first half but the second half was a lot better,” France’s coach ­Didier Deschamps said. “The players who came on made a difference. We are not stuck with one format — we can switch things. ”

Switzerland moved to the brink of the last 16 after their lively clash at the Parc des Princes. The Swiss, who owe their point to Admir Mehmedi’s second-half strike, have four points from two games, while Romania have one after Bogdan Stancu opened the scoring in the first half.

In Group B, Slovakia deepened Russia’s woes with classy first-half goals from Vladimir Weiss and Marek Hamsik in a tense 2-1 victory.

Just a day after UEFA told Russia it would be banned if fans caused more trouble, the result left them with just a point from their earlier draw with England.

Reuters