It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 301 European Cup Qualifiers
On October 10, the third round of the 10 European Cup qualifiers kicked off again.

The French team will face Romania at home.

In previous encounters, Romania has only beaten France three times.

Diarra and M'Vila played as double defensive midfielders, Charles as single attacking midfielder, Malouda and Valbuena as double wings, and Benzema as center forward.

Romania fielded a 5-3-2 formation, with Chivu, Radovan, Rat, Tamas and Sapnaru forming the back line, Ziku, Kosis and Florescu forming the midfield, and Nicolae and Stancu as forwards.

At the beginning of the game, both sides were in the testing stage and there were no threatening attacks for the time being.

It was not until the eleventh minute that the active French team began to frequently threaten Romania.

After Romania's shot was cleared, France immediately launched a counterattack.

Charles got the first point and made a long pass, and Pi went straight to the right.

Valbuena lived up to expectations and dribbled past the defense before shooting from a small angle, but the ball was ultimately saved by the Romanian goalkeeper.

Charles then took a corner kick, Malouda made a cross from the left, Diarra headed the ball, but the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.

In the 19th minute, Diarra intercepted the ball in the midfield, Charles passed it, and Malouda did the same on the left side of the penalty area, dribbling past the defender, but his shot eventually slipped past the goal.

The two sides launched attacks back and forth. After receiving the ball, Romania's Rat forced a shot near the penalty area line in the frontcourt, but it was finally blocked by Rami.

Romania's corner kick was successfully blocked by the French team, and the offense and defense between the two sides were once again in a different situation.

Romania's thrown ball was quickly intercepted by France. After receiving the ball, Charles ran all the way down the middle. Just as he was about to reach the top of the penalty area, Tamas and Rath fell to the ground and made a tackle.

裁判鸣哨。

Tamas and Rat received the yellow sapphire cards, and the French team got a free kick in the frontcourt.

With a whistle, at the moment the human wall jumped up, Charles kicked the ball with his right foot. The powerful ball made a big circle from the right side of the human wall and finally hit the upper left corner of the goal.

France 1:0 Romania.

In the 27th minute, M'Vila's powerful shot from outside the penalty area went wide.

A minute later, Valbuena's long-range shot was caught by the goalkeeper.

The French offensive continues.

Benzema made a curved ball in the penalty area, but it was eventually saved by the goalkeeper. Then Charles got the first point and knocked the ball back with his heel. M'Vila kicked the ball on the penalty area line, but the ball eventually went over the crossbar again.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and Romania's Diack replaced Ziku.

Charles made a straight pass, Valbuena knocked it back, then Charles made a lob pass, and Malouda shot from near the penalty area line, but unfortunately it was blocked by the defender and went out of bounds.

France took a corner kick and Mex headed the ball, but it was caught by the goalkeeper.

Pandirimon kicked the ball, Romania quickly counterattacked, Diack made a cross, and then with the cooperation from the left, Nicolae forced a shot, Clichy cleared the ball not far away, Florescu made a strong shot at the back point, but Lori, who was in excellent form, tipped the ball over the crossbar.

In the 58th minute, France had another great opportunity. Benzema received a through ball from Charles and passed the ball to the right in front of the defender. Valbuena shot the ball, which was blocked by Pandirimon and then hit the crossbar before being cleared by Chivu.

Just one minute later, Charles created another chance. Malouda's forced shot from the left was blocked by the defender, and Benzema's follow-up shot was caught by the goalkeeper.

In the 60th minute, the French team quickly counterattacked. Charles faced the goalkeeper at a small angle on the left and shot directly. However, it seemed like a system game today. Pandirimon Yashin was possessed and Charles' shot was once again blocked.

Three minutes later, Marica replaced the injured Nicolae.

Subsequently, Valbuena was replaced by Remy and the French team changed to 4-3-3.

In the 71st minute, Klich made a mistake in passing the ball in the backcourt, Sapnaru made a cross from the right bottom line, and Marica, who came on as a substitute, pushed the ball from the middle, but the shot hit the goal post.

The French defender quickly cleared the ball, Charles received the pass and advanced with the ball, after getting rid of Cossis, he made a straight pass, Remy made a high-speed run to get rid of Chivu, the Romanian defender who frantically returned to defense was furious, but there was nothing he could do, he could only watch him score with a low shot from the right side of the penalty area.

France 2:0 Romania.

Cheers filled the Stade de France.

In the 83rd minute, Radovan's long shot from outside the penalty area missed, and Blanco finally chose to replace Benzema with Payet.

And five minutes later, Malouda made a cross from the left, and Charles, who was standing at the back post, headed the ball into the goal.

The French team's offensive was unstoppable.

In the 90th minute, Payet's shot from the center of the penalty area was once again saved by Pandirimon.

In the last minute of stoppage time, Charles fired again. Payet broke through on the right, dribbled past the defender and made a cross. Charles took the opportunity to push the ball into the net near the penalty spot.

France beat Romania 4:0 and achieved a big victory.

The media on the sidelines kept taking pictures of the players on the field, and some anxious reporters started making up news directly on the sidelines.

All French people were extremely excited today. When taking the bus back to Clairefontaine, young player Payet was still immersed in indescribable joy.

Before transferring to Saint-Etienne, Payet only scored 5 goals for the team in two seasons at Nantes; in his first three seasons at Saint-Etienne, Payet only scored 6 goals.

The 23-year-old seemed to have suddenly come to his senses. Not long after the start of this season, he scored 7 goals and became one of the major contributors to Saint-Etienne's rise in the new season.

Originally there was an interview task within the team, but because of his outstanding performance, Blanco decided to give him the opportunity.

After an exciting night, Payet woke up early and accepted interviews from the media in the lobby.

This interview was a one-on-one interview. It was said that it was originally reserved for Charles. Then Charles recommended Payet, and Blanco made the change.

Payet sat in a chair.

The female reporter holding the microphone on the opposite side had a sweet smile.

"After yesterday's game, some people said that you and Remi were the brightest new stars of the game, grabbing everyone's attention and illuminating the future of France. What do you think about this?"

Payet scratched his head.

"Ah, I'm very happy to hear that. This is my first national team game, and I was able to get an assist. I'm very satisfied."

The reporter kept smiling and continued to ask: "Including the extra time, Payet only got 6 minutes, and he performed a wonderful scene. After forcing a breakthrough on the right, he made a clever dunk, easily got rid of the pressing defender, and then calmly passed the ball to the feet of the unguarded Charles. He didn't look like a 23-year-old kid playing for the country for the first time. Some people say that you and Remy are the new generation of Henry and Trezeguet..."

"If it were in the past, I would be extremely proud and might even put the last six minutes of the game in my grave, but I talked to Remi about it last night and I no longer have such thoughts."

Payet said.

"Can you tell me what Remi said to you?" the reporter asked curiously.

"Remy said that when the captain made his national team debut at the age of 18, he scored two goals and had one assist in a 3-0 win over Argentina. Compared to him, we are nothing. Next, I will continue to learn from the captain. Although I am older, the captain is indeed better than me."

Payet finally laughed.

The reporter also laughed and wrote in his notebook: "The 23-year-old young player is comparable to Charles' Trezeguet, and his 6 minutes of excitement will soon overshadow Charles' debut."

Time flies. On October 10, the fourth round of the 13 European Cup qualifiers Group D kicked off again, and this time, France will face Luxembourg at home.

In history, the two sides have played against each other as many times as Romania, but Luxembourg is far inferior to Romania. In 14 games, Luxembourg has only won once, while the French team has won 13 times, and there is no draw between the two sides.

在1914年2月8日，也就是将近100年前，法国队在客场4：5不敌卢森堡。

This is also the only time in history that the French team lost to Luxembourg.

On April 1913, 4, France defeated Luxembourg 20-8 at home in Saint-Ouen. This was the biggest score in France's victory over Luxembourg in history, and also the biggest score difference in the history of the two sides.

More than half a century ago, on December 1953, 12, the French team repeated the score at home in Paris.

双方最近一次交手还是在1985年10月30日，法国队在巴黎主场6比0完胜。

Luxembourg has a population of just over 60 people, and 47% of them are citizens of other countries.

Because of this, Luxembourgers know many languages, but there are very few people who speak English in this country, and the majority speak French.

In addition to wine, Luxembourg's specialty also includes school teachers.

Of course this teacher is serious, the monthly salary of teachers in Luxembourg is the highest in the world.

Teachers without work experience earn 6141 euros (about yuan) per month.

The monthly salary of a senior teacher is about 10683 euros (about 8 yuan).

Currently, the French team is at the top of Group D with 9 points, while Luxembourg is at the bottom with two losses and one draw. In addition, its FIFA ranking of 130th makes it weaker than the Chinese national team.

Despite having the upper hand in terms of strength and the home advantage, Blanco did not dare to take it lightly and instead sent out his strongest lineup as usual.

The French, who originally had no special opinions about this game, were stunned when they saw the starting lineup.

法国(4-4-2)：1-洛里/22-克里希、4-拉米、5-梅克斯、2-雷维耶尔/18-阿劳·迪亚拉、7-里贝里、19-迪亚比、15-马卢达/9-本泽马、7-夏尔。

Let's look at Luxembourg's players:
卢森堡(4-5-1)：1-尤伯特/11-雷维克、3-布莱斯、4-霍夫曼、5-施内尔/6-佩特斯、10-帕亚尓、8-贝特梅尔、14-拉特扎、17-穆特舒/13-乔吉姆。

Perhaps Luxembourg needs another defender to barely withstand the attack of the French team.

The game quickly became one-sided.

In the 5th minute, Benzema's shot was blocked out of the bottom line and France took a corner kick.

Charles made a cross from the corner, the Luxembourg defender cleared the ball not far away, and Clichy scored with a long shot from outside the penalty area.

France 1:0 Luxembourg.

Two minutes later, Diaby's long shot went wide to the right.

But France's attack was not over yet.

In the 13th minute, the French team got consecutive corner kick opportunities. Charles took the second corner kick. Benzema stopped the ball at the back post and volleyed with his left foot. The ball hit the far post and went into the net. 2-0, the French team scored again.

Luxembourg restarted the game, but the ball was intercepted by the midfielder not long after.

The French team made a cross after cooperation on the left, Charles received the ball and passed it to Diaby, but his luck did not seem to be very good. His powerful shot near the penalty area line was saved by goalkeeper Youbert.

Ribery's powerful shot from outside the penalty area was too focused on the angle and also slipped past the goal.

In the 34th minute, Charles passed the ball and Benzema headed the ball but it went wide of the post.

Even so, Luxembourg was still beaten without any chance of fighting back.

Three minutes later, France had a free kick in the frontcourt. Charles made a cross and Diaby shot again from a similar position, but was saved by the goalkeeper. Ribery then got to the ball in the first place and passed it back again. Benzema in the penalty area shot at the goal.

This time, the Luxembourg goalkeeper was powerless to save the situation, and France eventually led Luxembourg 3:0 before halftime.

Luxembourg restarts the game.

Shortly after Bettmer kicked off, facing the France team's terrifying midfield control, he chose to work his magic and fired a long shot from 30 meters away, but it did not pose any threat to Lori.

Although this was Luxembourg's only shot in the first half.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

Not long after the start of the game, Ribery and Benzema cooperated to pass the ball to Charles. The cake maker who had worked hard to make the ball in the last round finally got to eat the cake made by his teammates.

After Charles shook off Hoffman, Ubert chose to attack the aggressive Charles. He just stretched out his hand to block the ball under Charles' feet, but Charles was one step faster and shot directly.

Pi Qiu flew straight towards the far post of the goal like a meteor and finally bounced into the net.

France 4:0 Luxembourg.

In the 54th minute, Luxembourg midfielder Peters received his second yellow card of the game and was sent off, leaving Luxembourg with one less player.

The balance of victory tilted sharply towards France.

A minute later, Clichy sent a free kick into the penalty area, Charles' header was blocked, and Benzema made a follow-up shot to score a goal.

France 5:0 Luxembourg.

Four minutes later, Reviere made a cross and Diaby headed the ball from a small angle on the right side of the penalty area, but it went wide.

Shortly afterwards, Ribery made a cross and Malouda headed the ball into the goal, France 6:0 Luxembourg.

In the 63rd minute, Benzema was substituted and Payet, who performed well in his first appearance for the national team last weekend, took the field again. Nasri also replaced Malouda and Remy replaced Charles.

This time, the steady Blanco finally decided to let Charles take a break.

The game continued and the French team's offensive did not diminish due to Charles' departure.

Ribery shot from near the front of the penalty area, and Eubert and the defender teamed up to block the ball, but the ball was not cleared far away and Remy took a follow-up shot.

France 7:0 Luxembourg.

The massacre continues.

In the 75th minute, France took an indirect free kick in the frontcourt. Payet made a pass and Ribery shot the ball into the lower left corner of the goal. France led Luxembourg 8:0.

In the 80th minute, when France extended its lead, Nasri accidentally shot high from near the penalty spot.

Just one minute later, Ribery made a straight pass and Remy almost got a one-on-one opportunity, but he hesitated in shooting and missed the great opportunity.

The game was coming to an end. Diaby's long shot was blocked by the defender. Payet made a cross and Ribery's header was confiscated by the goalkeeper.

In the stoppage time, Nasri's powerful shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area was again saved by the goalkeeper.

The referee couldn't bear it and quickly blew the whistle to end the game.

France defeated Luxembourg 8:0, replicating the record set half a century ago.

(End of this chapter)