France "A" - BULGARIA "A" 4: 1
0:1 M.Aleksandrov 6 - (p), 1: 1 Gameiro 23, 2:1 Payet (26), 3:1 Grizman 38 4:1 Gameiro 59
"Stade de France"
Attendance - 76 000
Referee: Luca Banti (Italy)
Yellow cards: none
Red cards: none
France: Loris, Kurzava, Varanе, Pogba, Grizman (83-Fekir), Payet, Gameiro (72-Gignac) Matyuidi, Sissoko, Sagnia (27-Sidibe) Koschelny.
BULGARIA: Stoyanov, S.Popov, Al. Aleksandrov, Pirgov, Zh.Milanov, M. Aleksandrov (76-Nedelev) Kostadinov, Dyakov, G. Milanov, Marcelinho (62-Rangelov), I.Popov (68-Tonev).
Bulgaria lose 4:1 his visit to France in European qualifier for Russia 2018. The match was a debut of the new national Head Coach Peter Hubchev and his assistants, and for the first time the Bulgarian team played with the new kit dedicated to 140th anniversary of the April uprising. Peter Hubchev has decided to put Alexander Aleksandrov and debutant Dimitar Pirgov in central defense and Zhivko Milanov and Strahil Popov respectively on the left and right of the defense. Another debutant - Georgi Kostadinov started in midfield, beside captain Dyakov in the center of midfield line. On the the two wings have started Georgi Milanov and Mihail Aleksandrov, with Marcelinho and Ivelin Popov taking the forward positions.
The visitors started very well, taking the lead in the 6-th minute when Mihail Alexandrov scored from the penalty spot, awarded after Bakary Sagna`s foul against Georgi Milanov. This was the third goal for Aleksandrov in his career in the national team.
France responded with a dangerous shot from Gameiro in the 9-th minute, blocked by Dimitar Pirgov.
In the next few minutes the home side push hardly and this led the result to 1:1.
Bakary Sagna received the ball on the right wing and crossed to Kevin Gameiro who headed home in the bottom right corner of Stoyanov.
Just three minutes later the hosts have made a complete turnaround. Dimitri Payet tried to cross almost from the touchline, but the ball flew into the Bulgarian net for the second time.
In the 38th minute the result was 3:1. Dimitar Pirgov made a mistake passing the ball to Antoine Griezman, who reacted very well, finding the left corner of Stoyanov`s net .
Three minutes later Bulgaria had a dangerous counter attack. Marcelinho overcame two defenders and entered into the box, and after a ricochet the ball fell to Ivelin Popov, who pulled the trigger over the bar.
France reached the fourth goal in the 59-th minute after an excellent combination between Payet, Grizman and Kevin Gameiro, who scored his second goal of the match to complete the final 4:1 for France.
Until the final whistle France was close to the fifth goal, with Matuidi hitting the shot after a
very well putted shot.
Forward Dimitar Rangelov entered into the game from the bench to mark his 40-th appearance for the national team.
Next, Bulgaria will face Sweden in Solna on 10-th of October.
Department "Public Relations and Media"
