France scored three times in the first 22 minutes en route to thrashing the Netherlands 4-0 in Paris to get their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign off to the perfect start.
Goals from Antoine Griezmann and Dayot Upamecano had France two up after only eight minutes, before Kylian Mbappe added a third to see the hosts out of sight with barely a quarter of the game gone against Ronald Koeman’s side.
Mbappe netted again two minutes from the end to ensure the World Cup runners-up took firm control of their qualification group, while a heavy defeat for the Netherlands meant they suffered embarrassment in Koeman’s first game since returning.
Romelu Lukaku hit a hat-trick as Belgium put their World Cup woes behind them with a comfortable 3-0 win away to Sweden.
They were kept off the top of their group by Austria, for whom Manchester United’s Marcel Sabitzer scored twice in a 4-1 triumph against Azerbaijan.
Dusan Tadic and Dusan Vlahovic scored goals in either half to set Serbia on their way to a 2-0 win at home to Lithuania. In the same group Bulgaria went down 1-0 at home against Balkan neighbours Montenegro.
