The Malta Independent on Sunday

Relentless France storm to 14-0 victory over Gibraltar

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France recorded the largest every victory in their history on Saturday night as they thumped Gibraltar 14-0 in their Euro 2024 qualifier.

Kylian Mbappe scored a hattrick against a side who went down to ten men after just 18 minutes through Ethan Santos' red card.

It was a night that saw Warren Zaire-Emery score on his debut but then go down injured after, forcing to be substitute­d moments later.

The Paris Saint-Germain star is just 17-years-old but has already made 46 appearance­s for the French giants, with 15 of those coming this season.

As a result of his efforts, he was handed his first senior call-up with the France national team following multiple youth side matches.

Didier Deschamps named him in the starting XI against Gibraltar

to make him the youngest men's debutant for France in the last century.

And it took France's latest prospect just 16 minutes to find the back of the net on his debut, a powerful close-range finish.

Croatia on course for Euro 2024 spot with 2-0 win over Latvia after Wales drops points

Croatia is on the verge of qualifying for next year's European Championsh­ip after beating Latvia 2-0 on Saturday as its closest rival Wales dropped points in a 1-1 draw with Armenia.

Early goals from Lovro Majer and Andrej Kramarić gave Croatia a comfortabl­e victory at lastplace Latvia.

Croatia will secure a qualifying spot on Tuesday with a win over Armenia in its last game or if Wales fails to beat Group D leader Turkey.

Wales' players started the day knowing that winning their last two games would ensure qualificat­ion but trailed after just five minutes. Lucas Zelarayan put Armenia ahead with a shot from the edge of the penalty area after Wales failed to clear a corner.

Wales went into halftime level following Nair Tiknizyan's owngoal but created little in the second half as Armenia looked the more likely team to win.

Only two of Armenia's 19 shots were on target, though, and the draw meant Armenia's slim chances of qualifying were ended when Croatia won its game.

Wales previously won one of its games with World Cup semifinali­st Croatia and drew the other but a 4-2 loss at home to Armenia in March was costly.

Belarus beat Andorra 1-0 in Group I.

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