Colombia 1-3 France: Doue brace secures win as Mbappe denied record-equalling goal

Desire Doue's double propelled France to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Colombia at Northwest Stadium on Sunday.

The youngster netted his first goals for the national team on either side of Marcus Thuram's header, but Kylian Mbappe was denied a piece of history late on.

Colombia started brightly and almost got their reward when Theo Hernandez slid in to block Luis Diaz's cross, but he just avoided directing his block into his own net.

France got the breakthrough in the 29th minute; after Thuram and Rayan Cherki failed to find space, Doue was on hand to guide a first-time effort into the bottom-right corner.

Just 12 minutes later, they had their second. Maghnes Akliouche found space down the right after a quick France attack, and his pinpoint cross was glanced over Alvaro Montero by Thuram.

Colombia again came out brightly in the second half, but Doue dented their early momentum. Thuram, under pressure, squared the ball across the box, and an unmarked Doue raced forward to tuck it into an empty net 56 minutes in.

Colombia pulled one back 21 minutes later, with Jefferson Lerma remaining alert in the box to pick out substitute Jaminton Campaz, whose first-time shot flew past Brice Samba.

Mbappe – a 78th-minute substitute – caused chaos late on as he searched for the goal that would take him level with Olivier Giroud at the top of France's scoring charts, but after racing in behind past Montero, he was denied his 57th international goal by the offside flag.

Data Debrief: Doue opens account in style

Doue had never scored for his national team before, but he wasted no time settling in against Colombia to get his first goals on the board.

The Paris Saint-Germain youngster is the first player to open his goal tally for France with a brace since Thomas Lemar in August 2017 (two goals versus Netherlands).

And Doue shone throughout; he had a game-high three shots (all of which were on target), while no player bettered his five final-third entries or 0.56 expected goals (xG).

It was a tighter game than the scoreline suggests, with Colombia putting up a fight. They had 13 shots, only one fewer than France, while Los Cafeteros finished with more touches in the opposition box (30 to 24) and final-third entries (47 to 30) as they struggled to break down France's defence.