Ousmane Dembele leads 10-man France to friendly win over England

Ousmane Dembele scored his first international goal to give 10-man France a 3-2 win over England in a friendly in Paris on Tuesday night.

Despite Harry Kane's opening goal for England, France rallied to take the lead before half-time through Samuel Umtiti and Djibril Sidibe.

But a Kane penalty soon after the break -- accompanied by a controversial decision involving the video assistant referee to send off Raphael Varane -- allowed England to equalise, only for Dembele to finally take his chance and net the winner.

After a show of solidarity in a pregame ceremony, England's opener come on the counter-attack in the ninth minute when Raheem Sterling laid the ball off for the overlapping Ryan Bertrand, who sent in a cross for Kane to tap in.

But France quickly found their footing, and Olivier Giroud's frustration was visible after an offside call saw his superb acrobatic goal cancelled out, before Dembele somehow directed wide after bursting through to latch onto a pass from Kylian Mbappe.

They were warning signs Southgate's men failed to heed. Giroud was allowed to meet a free kick with a powerful header that Tom Heaton did well to stop. But the Burnley goalkeeper, making his first start, could not stop Umtiti rifling home the loose ball in the 22nd minute.

Heaton denied Mbappe at his near post as France looked to go ahead, before England belatedly showed some attacking intent as Bertrand was denied by Hugo Lloris.

France's win meant woe for England as the 10-man hosts prevailed.
France's win meant woe for England as the 10-man hosts prevailed.
Getty

Eric Dier fired just wide from the resulting corner on a night when the Tottenham midfielder was not giving his defence enough protection.

France capitalised on England's fragile defence two minutes before half-time. Dembele led the charge and played the ball out wide, only for Gary Cahill's intervention to play it back into his path. Showing great composure he cut in and got away a shot that Heaton denied, only for France to score another rebound as Sidibe turned in.

England boss Gareth Southgate changed keepers at half-time, bringing on Jack Butland, and it only took two minutes for England to draw level.

Varane clipped Dele Alli's heel in the box, sending him clattering into his Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris, and the referee gave the penalty.

Confusion reigned for a minute as referee Davide Massa waited to hear from video assistant team of Marco Guida and Massimiliano Irrati, with the penalty compounded by Varane's controversial red card for bringing down Dele Alli, and Kane converted the penalty to equalise at 2-2.

England then had more room to operate, but it was France who nearly restored their lead in the 71st minute. Mbappe had a look at an open goal after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain turned the ball over, but he could only hit the crossbar.

Thomas Lemar saw his follow-up hacked off the line and shaky England were punished in the 78th minute.

Paul Pogba played the ball in for Mbappe at the top of the box, but rather than trying to shoot, the teenager laid the ball off for Dembele, whose shot took a deflection off Cahill and into the net.

Information from Press Association was used in this report.