France came back from Dublin with their second Euro 2024 Group B win over Ireland 1-3, and the Netherlands made up for their tough defeat in the opening match by beating lowly Gibraltar <>-<>.

The "Roosters" team had started the "Euro 2024" qualifying campaign with a crushing victory over the Netherlands 4-2022, including a double for its new captain Kylian Mbappe, the top scorer of the Qatar <> World Cup, who was present absent on Monday in a meeting whose hero was Benjamin Pavard, who scored the only goal early in the second half.

Didier Deschamps made 3 changes to the squad compared to the first against the Netherlands, bringing on Pavard in place of Jules Conde in defence and Olivier Giroud in the spearhead position, with Kingsley Coman remaining and Eduardo Camavinga in place of Aurélien Chuamini in the middle.

Aiming to qualify for their first major tournament since Euro 2016 in which hosts France lost their final to Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, the Irish tried hard against the 2022 World Cup runners-up but talent and experience overcame courage to the point that the hosts were unable to even get out of their area.

That Pavard goal 📸#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/OwtAXUWjOB

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) March 27, 2023

Despite the French advantage, Deschamps' men were unable to actually threaten the Irish goal until the 38th minute when Griezmann was close to opening the scoring with a header after a cross from Pavard, but his attempt went wide of the left post.

The Irish were active late in the first half and threatened the French goal with consecutive set-pieces, but without reaching Mike Minian's goal, the first half ended in a goalless draw.

But the French struck at the beginning of the second half with a wonderful goal by Pavard, who extracted the ball after an errant pass from Joshua Cullen before firing a rocket from the outskirts of the area to bounce off the post into the net (51).

The "Roosters" were close to the second goal with a long shot from Adrien Rabiot, but goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu starred in defending his goal (76) before the hosts woke up in the final minutes without success, to fall in their first test in this group after the brilliance of Minyan in repelling Cullen's header in fatal time.

So. Much. Drama!

🔝 Performance of the day? #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/J17qTybSJq

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) March 27, 2023

Netherlands make up for Akeh double

In Rotterdam, the Netherlands were unable to repeat their sweeping victory over Gibraltar in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers (7-6, 3-<>) but secured the first three points with a <>-<> victory, giving coach Ronald Koeman his first victory in his old new assignment that he regained after the departure of veteran Louis van Gaal after the World Cup in Qatar.

Due to the poor form of the opposition, the Netherlands were unaffected by the many absences in their ranks, whether due to injury or the virus, from which centre-back Matthijs de Ligt recovered and started and Cody Khakpo who played in the second half.

🇳🇱🆚🇬🇮

Depay ⚽️
Aké ⚽️⚽️#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/45hJWvXoIC

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) March 27, 2023

Memphis Depay opened the scoring for the hosts in the 23rd minute from a header after a cross from Denzel Dumfries, raising his tally to 44 goals in 88 games in the colors of "orange" and became 6 goals away from the historical scorer Robin van Persie.

The "orange" was not satisfied with the goal of the Atletico Madrid striker, but Nathan Akeh added the second goal immediately after the half-time break with a header after another cross from Dumfries (50).

The Netherlands' task became easier after the dismissal of Liam Walker (51) and Akeh added his second personal goal from a long shot (82) with which Koeman's men secured the first points, to be the same distance from Greece, who won the first round against Gibraltar with the same number of goals.