Lacazette and Giroud on target

March 31, 2015 04:30 am | Updated 04:30 am IST - Saint-Etienne (France):

France's Olivier Giroud (right) adds to Denmark's woes with his team's second goal in a friendly on Sunday.

France's Olivier Giroud (right) adds to Denmark's woes with his team's second goal in a friendly on Sunday.

Alexandre Lacazette scored his first international goal to set France on the way to a 2-0 friendly victory over Denmark in Saint-Etienne on Sunday evening.

The Lyon striker set the ball rolling in the 14th minute and Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud added another before half-time as Les Bleus bounced back from their 3-1 defeat to Brazil at the Stade de France last Thursday.

Coach Didier Deschamps made eight changes to his starting line-up from that game, with Raphael Varane, Morgan Schneiderlin and Antoine Griezmann the only players to keep their places.

Young Real Madrid defender Varane wore the captain’s armband in the continued absence of the injured Hugo Lloris, while Saint-Etienne’s Stephane Ruffier was handed a start in goal in front of his home fans.

The bitter rivalry between Saint-Etienne and Lyon ensured that the crowd at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard gave Lacazette and his OL teammate Christophe Jallet a hostile reception, but the former overcame that to open the scoring.

When Griezmann’s effort was blocked by Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, Lacazette lashed home the loose ball to open his international account on his sixth cap.

The Euro 2016 host continued to press and Dimitri Payet curled a shot just wide before the second goal arrived seven minutes prior to the interval.

Monaco midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia drove towards the Danish penalty area and set up Giroud — with 37 caps the most experienced member of the French starting line-up — to beat Schmeichel with a low left-foot finish.

That was the end of the scoring, although the visitors should have equalised just before the break, but Nicklas Bendtner headed against the right post from close range.

The result: France 2 (Lacazette 14, Giroud 38) bt Denmark 0.

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