France survive Ireland scare, Netherlands ease past Gibraltar

France held on to beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin on March 27 to win their second Euro 2024 qualifier, while the Netherlands eased past Gibraltar 3-0.

France held on to beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin on Monday to win their second Euro 2024 qualifier, while the Netherlands eased past Gibraltar 3-0.

Right-back Benjamin Pavard pounced with half an hour remaining at a sold-out Lansdowne Road before two superb Mike Maignan saves in the final two minutes.

With 30 seconds to play in Dublin, AC Milan's Maignan, who has succeeded former captain Hugo Lloris as Les Bleus' goalkeeper, tipped over team-mate Jules Kounde's panicked header.

From the resulting corner Maignan saved the visitors' skin as he made a similar save from Nathan Collins' powerful effort.

"Mike's stop allowed us to stay in the match and claim a clean sheet, so I'm going to say that he's the man of the match," Bayern Munich's Pavard told television channel TF1.

"I had the chance to play, it was succesful, I scored, even if a defender's main objective is to defend well," he added.

In Rotterdam, Manchester City centre-back Nathan Ake scored twice in a little over half an hour as the Netherlands overcame 10-men Gibraltar, 200th in the FIFA rankings.