Malo helps France through

Malo Gusto was a late call-up to the France squad, being promoted from the Under-21s as more experienced defenders, including Axel Disasi, withdrew due to injury. The right-back was rewarded on his first senior involvement by being handed his international debut by France manager, and former Chelsea player, Didier Deschamps.

It was quite a night for his debut, after being introduced as a substitute to replace Jonathan Clauss for the last 10 minutes of a crucial European Championship qualifier away against the Netherlands. Kylian Mbappe’s brace had given France a deserved lead and although the Dutch pulled one back late on, Gusto and Co held on for a 2-1 win. Ian Maatsen was on the bench for the Netherlands.

That win makes France one of three countries who became the first to qualify for Euro 2024 this evening, now being guaranteed of a top-two finish in their group. The others are Portugal and Belgium, the latter securing their place with a 3-2 win away in Austria, captain Romelu Lukaku scoring the winning goal for the 10-man Red Devils.

Levi makes his bow

Outside of qualifying matches, England’s home friendly with Australia saw Levi Colwill make his senior international debut in a narrow win for the Three Lions, with the defender and Conor Gallagher both in Gareth Southgate’s starting line-up.

Colwill remained on the pitch throughout in the same left-back role in which he has impressed for Chelsea this season, earning a clean sheet and a victory on his first appearance at this level, while Gallagher played the first hour in a deep midfield role before being replaced.

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game from close range in the second half, with both teams coming close to adding to the scoresheet when hitting the woodwork, but ultimately it remained 1-0.

Late drama for Under-21s

There were wins for two young Chelsea players in qualifying for the 2025 European Under-21 Championship. Lesley Ugochukwu helped France come from behind for a dramatic 2-1 victory away at Bosnia and Herzegovina, to make it two wins from as many games.

Ugochukwu played the full 90 minutes as France conceded just after the half-hour mark, but equalised four minutes later before scoring the winner in injury time, taking the three points despite having a man sent off in the closing stages.

There was plenty of late drama for Eddie Beach, too, with the goalkeeper turning creator for Wales as they salvaged a draw away in Czechia. He had to stay strong to keep the home side’s first-half lead to one goal as the Czechs took control, making five saves despite falling behind.

However, after denying them a second, Beach delivered a free-kick into the opposition box in the sixth and final minute of added time, from which Cian Ashford volleyed in a leveller with the last kick of the game.

The second Under-21 qualifying win was for fellow keeper Lucas Bergstrom and Finland, who recovered from a losing start by comfortably beating Albania 4-1 at home. They raced into a two-goal lead inside the first six minutes and the points never looked in doubt from that point on, despite Bergstrom being denied a clean sheet by a consolation goal 10 minutes from the end.

Elsewhere

Teenage midfielder Ollie Harrison was a late substitute for England Under-17s in their friendly draw with Norway. England twice took the lead, but an injury-time equaliser made the final score 2-2. Shumaira Mheuka, who scored in a 3-0 win over the same opponent two days earlier, was an unused substitute.