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Euro friendlies: Olivier Giroud closes in on Thierry Henry's all-time goal record, Netherlands lose

Eurosport
ByEurosport

Published 07/10/2020 at 21:42 GMT

On a night of international friendlies there were wins for France, Italy and Croatia. Germany vs Turkey was a goalfest and Portugal vs Spain ended goalless. Meanwhile Netherlands slipped to a narrow defeat to an impressive Mexico side.

Olivier Giroud

Image credit: Getty Images

Olivier Giroud became France's second top scorer when he netted a double to take his international tally to 42 goals as the world champions crushed an injury, and Covid-19 ravaged, Ukraine 7-1 in a near-empty Stade de France.
Giroud, who celebrated winning his 100th cap, found the back of the net twice in the second half to move within nine goals of Thierry Henry's French scoring record.
The Chelsea striker leapfrogged Michel Platini, who scored 41 goals from 72 games between 1976/87.
The other goals came from the 17-year-old Eduardo Camavinga, who became the youngest France scorer since 1914, an own goal by Vitaliy Mykolenko, Corentin Tolisso, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, while Ukraine reduced the arrears through Viktor Tsygankov.
Mexico handed new Netherlands coach Frank de Boer a defeat in his first game in charge as they enjoyed a deserved 1-0 win over their hosts.
Raul Jimenez made up for several missed first-half chances by tucking away a penalty on the hour mark after Nathan Ake had pulled him back in the area.
Forward Francesco Caputo scored on his Italy debut at the age of 33 as they routed Moldova 6-0 in a one-sided affair.
Stephan El Shaarawy bagged a brace while Bryan Cristante and Domenico Berardi, with their first Italy goals, were also on target and Veaceslav Posmac put through his own goal to complete a dreadful night for the visitors.
Portugal had to settle for a 0-0 draw at home to Spain in a blockbuster international friendly on Wednesday after hammering the crossbar twice and missing a last-gasp open goal.
Germany midfielder Florian Neuhaus scored on his national team debut but Turkey came back three times to earn a 3-3 draw.
Kenan Karaman slotted in a stoppage-time equaliser after Luca Waldschmidt fired in an 81st-minute volley that had put Germany 3-2 ahead. Turkey twice before had levelled, with both teams missing several regular players.
Julian Draxler's good finish from a Kai Havertz assist had put the hosts ahead on the stroke of halftime in front of 300 fans allowed in the stadium but the Turks equalised with Ozan Tufan's curled effort five minutes after the restart. The 23-year-old Neuhaus completed a lightning quick one-two with Havertz to put Germany back ahead in the 58th.
But he then lost possession to Efecan Karaca who fired in from close range in the 67th for Turkey to draw level once more before the late goals from Waldschmidt and Karaman.
Goals from midfielders Josip Brekalo and Mario Pasalic gave Croatia a 2-1 win at Switzerland after Mario Gavranovic had fired the home side ahead in a lively game attended by 5,000 fans.
Additional reporting from Reuters.
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