By Greg Johnson
Opening night nerves appeared to have got the better of France as the hosts of Euro 2016 struggled to make the most of their chances against a stubborn Romania side, who caused a few problems of their own to Didier Deschamps’ untested centre-back pairing.
Yet Dimitri Payet proved that he is more than just a West Ham hero with a man of the match performance at the Stade de France; a stadium filled to the brim with expectation and noise that seemed to cause his younger and less established team mates to wilt on the big stage.
In the first half, all of France’s best chances came through the 29-year-old, who was played out on the left and allowed to roam inside, and the team’s principal playmaker Paul Pogba through the middle. After Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann – who looked just as shot of confidence and composure as he did in the Champions League final in May – passed up chance after chance, Payet found the right ball at the right time for the Arsenal striker to score.
Romania pulled one back in the second-half from the penalty spot however after a clumsy challenge by Patrice Evra inside his own box, which Bogdan Stancu dispatched with ice cold calm. After failing to put away so many opportunities in the first half France then struggled to create anything more of a note, at least until Payet found the ball on the outskirts of the box to smash home a spectacular winner.
His manager subbed him off before the final whistle to a grand ovation – a gesture that clearly touched the Premier League star who wept with pride as he switched places with his replacement Moussa Sissoko minute before the end.
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