France left it until the 90th minute to seal victory over Albania on Wednesday evening—the second consecutive match in which Les Bleus have left it to the death to strike a fatal blow.
The result puts Didier Deschamps’ hosts into the second round with a game to spare and also leaves Albania needing both a win over Romania and other results to fall their way to have a chance of progression.
Sport360 rounds-up all the best post-match reaction from the Pool A clash:
Dimitri Payet, France goalscorer
“Once again I made the difference and I’ve known for a while that my island [Reunion] is right behind me and there is fervent support for Les Bleus. They’re very proud that France have made it through to the last 16.
“What’s great is that the late goals are nothing new. Since March, when we played the Netherlands, we’ve shown that we can go out and win games late on. We had to be patient.”
Didier Deschamps, France coach
“Albania played with a lot of heart and spirit. They defended well and have the ability to counterattack. We might have scored earlier, we had a lot of chances. While it was goalless it was a good result for Albania. It’s always difficult against teams that keep it tight. Once we finally got going we let loose a bit, albeit slightly late in the day.
“Payet has become more consistent. He’s always had ability and a lot of confidence. Now, in one-on-one situations and challenges, he’s always up for the fight.
“Clearly we didn’t do everything well. If you’ve seen a team that has, please tell me. We were a bit laborious in the first 45 minutes because Albania were physically fresh.”
Gianni De Biasi, Albania coach
“My team resisted until the end, but we didn’t defend throughout. In the first half, and at the start of the second, we had the clearer chances. If you don’t score, you won’t achieve results. We performed good and held up to France.
“When I went into the dressing room heads were down, but I told the lads to pick them up and be proud of the way they played against a team with a lot of ability. We really caused problems for France.
“We can beat Romania to qualify. If we can score the goals we haven’t so far we can definitely get the points we need to get into the next round. We’ve shown we’re a proper team and play good football.”