Played
May 31, 2012 8:00 PM BST
Stade Auguste-Delaune II — Reims
Referee: K. Kircher
Attendance: 19000
May 31, 2012 8:00 PM BST
Stade Auguste-Delaune II — Reims
Referee: K. Kircher
Attendance: 19000
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| France | 1.44 | 1.00 | 1.44 | 1.44 | 1.45 | 1.01 | 1.42 | 1.43 |
| Draw | 3.60 | 46.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 30.00 | 4.20 | 4.11 |
| Serbia | 6.50 | 71.00 | 8.00 | 8.00 | 7.00 | 100.00 | 7.10 | 7.75 |
Top of the Match
To Be Announced Shortly
Laurent Koscielny
France
France
Goal.com Rating 
Fans' Rating France 2-0 Serbia: Ribery and Malouda extend Les Bleus' unbeaten run to 20 games but triumph spoiled by M'Vila injury
Two early strikes sent Les Bleus cruising against Sinisa Mihajlovic's side but the win was marred by the injury to one of the French contingent's key players
By Charlie Scott
Panoramic
France ran out comfortable 2-0 winners in their international friendly against Serbia at the Stade Auguste-Delaune II on Thursday evening thanks to goals from Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda.
Laurent Blanc made seven changes from the side that limped past Iceland on Sunday, and his wholesale changes were justified by a vibrant first-half performance. Ribery took just 11 minutes to open the scoring, before Malouda added a monstrous second just minutes later. They went close to scoring a third on a number of occasions throughout the rest of the game, but were thwarted by a combination of some wasteful finishing from their strikers and some decent goalkeeping from Serbia goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic.
Despite the easy win, Blanc will be worried by the departure of Yann M'Vila early on in the game with what looked like an ankle injury following a tussle with Dusan Tadic in the very first minute.
France provided the perfect antidote to M'Vila's injury by taking the lead through Ribery in the 11th minute. The Bayern Munich winger was crucial in the build-up, dribbling past a couple of players before slipping the ball to the overlapping Gael Clichy, who sent a dangerous cross into the area that was parried by Brkic, but only straight into the path of Ribery and he made no mistake with his half-volley from 15 yards despite the best efforts of Slobodan Rajkovic on the line.
The Reims crowd did not have to wait long for a second goal. Malouda picked the ball up 25 yards from goal and proceeded to send a swerving thunderbolt into the top left-hand corner of Brkic's goal. The Serbia goalkeeper did well to even get a hand to it, but that was far from enough to keep the ball from finding the back of the net.
Sinisa Mihaljovic's side looked stunned after conceding twice in quick succession, and France showed no signs of letting up as the first half wore on. Karim Benzema came close to converting a chance in the 30th minute after a neat exchange of passes with Ribery, before Clichy tried his luck with a long-range effort that Brkic watched sail over his bar.
The top scorer in Serbia's starting XI Branislav Ivanovic would have reduced the two-goal deficit early in the second half but for a fine fingertip save from Hugo Lloris. The largely untroubled French goalkeeper was forced into making a brilliant stop to keep the Chelsea defender's free kick from rippling the net.
France made a host of changes on the hour mark, with the hero of their turnaround against Iceland on Sunday, Olivier Giroud, one of those being given a run-out by Blanc. However, rather than instigating life into a quiet second half, the substitutions caused the flow of the game to be interrupted, and there were few further chances of note in the game as Les Bleus eased to a 2-0 victory.
France's confident performance will be a boost to Blanc following their nervy showing against Iceland in their previous warm-up game. They will look to build on the victory and extend their current 20-game unbeaten streak in last match before the European Championship start, which is against Estonia on Tuesday.
Laurent Blanc made seven changes from the side that limped past Iceland on Sunday, and his wholesale changes were justified by a vibrant first-half performance. Ribery took just 11 minutes to open the scoring, before Malouda added a monstrous second just minutes later. They went close to scoring a third on a number of occasions throughout the rest of the game, but were thwarted by a combination of some wasteful finishing from their strikers and some decent goalkeeping from Serbia goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic.
Despite the easy win, Blanc will be worried by the departure of Yann M'Vila early on in the game with what looked like an ankle injury following a tussle with Dusan Tadic in the very first minute.
France provided the perfect antidote to M'Vila's injury by taking the lead through Ribery in the 11th minute. The Bayern Munich winger was crucial in the build-up, dribbling past a couple of players before slipping the ball to the overlapping Gael Clichy, who sent a dangerous cross into the area that was parried by Brkic, but only straight into the path of Ribery and he made no mistake with his half-volley from 15 yards despite the best efforts of Slobodan Rajkovic on the line.
The Reims crowd did not have to wait long for a second goal. Malouda picked the ball up 25 yards from goal and proceeded to send a swerving thunderbolt into the top left-hand corner of Brkic's goal. The Serbia goalkeeper did well to even get a hand to it, but that was far from enough to keep the ball from finding the back of the net.
Sinisa Mihaljovic's side looked stunned after conceding twice in quick succession, and France showed no signs of letting up as the first half wore on. Karim Benzema came close to converting a chance in the 30th minute after a neat exchange of passes with Ribery, before Clichy tried his luck with a long-range effort that Brkic watched sail over his bar.
The top scorer in Serbia's starting XI Branislav Ivanovic would have reduced the two-goal deficit early in the second half but for a fine fingertip save from Hugo Lloris. The largely untroubled French goalkeeper was forced into making a brilliant stop to keep the Chelsea defender's free kick from rippling the net.
France made a host of changes on the hour mark, with the hero of their turnaround against Iceland on Sunday, Olivier Giroud, one of those being given a run-out by Blanc. However, rather than instigating life into a quiet second half, the substitutions caused the flow of the game to be interrupted, and there were few further chances of note in the game as Les Bleus eased to a 2-0 victory.
France's confident performance will be a boost to Blanc following their nervy showing against Iceland in their previous warm-up game. They will look to build on the victory and extend their current 20-game unbeaten streak in last match before the European Championship start, which is against Estonia on Tuesday.
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Goal
Own Goal
Penalty
Penalty Missed
Yellow Card
Assist
Penalty Save
Penalty Shootout Goal
Penalty Shootout Miss
Yellow Card / Red Card
Red Card
Substitution IN
Substitution OUT
Injury
Goal.com Rating
Goal.com Man of the Match
Goal.com Flop of the Match
Top & Flop Global Ranking
Fans' Man of the Match
Fans' Flop of the Match
Results
Times In GMT
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0 - 2Final
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3 - 1Final
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1 - 1Final
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0 - 0Final
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0 - 1Final
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0 - 0Final
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1 - 1Final
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0 - 0Final
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3 - 0Final
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3 - 0Final
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2 - 1Final
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0 - 0Final
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0 - 0Final
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1 - 2Final
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2 - 0Final
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4 - 2Final
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4 - 2Final
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-Cancelled
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2 - 1Final
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3 - 0Final
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1(4) - 1(1)Final
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1 - 3Final
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3 - 0Final
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0 - 4Final
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0 - 0Final
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1 - 0Final
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-Cancelled
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1 - 1Final
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5 - 0Final
Live
Final
scheduled
Suspended
Cancelled
Postponed
Match News
Top Scorers
| Player | Goals | Penalties | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ashraf Nu'man Alfawaghra Midfielder Al Faisaly Amman |
4 | 1 |
|
Andreas Cornelius Striker FC Copenhagen |
4 | 1 |
|
Mikael Forssell Striker HJK Helsinki |
3 | 1 |
|
Fred Striker Fluminense |
3 | 0 |
|
Felipe Caicedo Striker Lokomotiv |
3 | 0 |
