France and Romania seemed reluctant to take any chances in their final group stage match at the Under-21 European Championships.

The World Cup winner was seen smiling and shaking hands with his compatriot before the game between USA and Holland at in Lyon.

The 25-year-old defender was last summoned for international duty in 2017 but is yet to be handed his first cap. Laporte had been regularly capped for France's international youth sides.

Kingsley Coman and defender Clement Lenglet scored in each half, with Antoine Griezmann missing a penalty for the second time in four days. Substitute Wissam Ben Yedder added a third.

Chelsea have been dealt an injury blow after N'Golo Kante was forced to pull out of France's Euro 2020 qualifier against Iceland on Friday night. Kante was set to start but suffered a problem in the warm-up.

The Real Madrid striker has not featured for France since back in 2015, with Deschamps choosing to axe him from the squad following the controversy with compatriot Mathieu Valbuena.

Giroud came off the bench in France's Euro 2020 qualifier against Turkey and scored within four minutes, but his header was cancelled out by Kaan Ayhan in a 1-1 draw.

Kante has endured a frustrating start to the season as he has been restricted to just six appearances in all competitions for Chelsea after suffering an ankle injury.

Karim Benzema has been a consistent goalscorer in his professional career and has represented France over 80 times, but the former Lyon marksman hasn't played for Les Bleus since 2015.

Manchester United captain Ashley Young thinks World Cup winners France have blundered by ignoring Anthony Martial whose form has made some of United's attacking football 'unbelievable'.

Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi has been called up to the France squad for their upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Moldova and Albania, hoping for his first start for his country.

MATT HUGHES - CHIEF SPORTS REPORTER: England's dubious reward for winning their qualifying group could be a place in the group of death with Portugal and France at Euro 2020.

Calls are growing for Karim Benzema to earn a recall for France - four years after earning the last of his 81 caps. He's been exiled since his involvement in blackmail of Mathieu Valbuena.

Giroud has played 211 minutes for Chelsea this season, with Tammy Abraham first-choice. But, ahead of their Euro 2020 qualifiers with Moldova, Deschamps says he has full faith in the player.

France boss Didier Deschamps denied that his team's lacklustre display in the 2-1 victory over Moldova was down to Les Blues having already qualified for Euro 2020.

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has threatened to switch his international allegiance after not being called up to the French squad again.

Kylian Mbappe's father has defended his son after he received criticism for his performance for France in their 2-1 victory against Moldova on Thursday.

ALBANIA 0-2 FRANCE: Corentin Tolisso and Antoine Griezmann scored as France beat Albania 2-0 to secure top spot in Euro 2020 qualifying group H.

PETE JENSON: Zinedine Zidane may have been able to reignite the debate on whether France are foolish to overlook in-form Karim Benzema - but it would take something huge to bring change.

One of France, Germany and Portugal may face an early exit after being drawn together in Group F for Euro 2020 in what has already been dubbed the 'Group of Death'.

Didier Deschamps will therefore get the chance to oversee France's attempt at defending their World Cup crown in three years' time after they beat Croatia 4-2 in the final in Russia last year.

Didier Deschamps has urged Olivier Giroud to leave Chelsea to secure a spot in France's Euro 2020 squad. Giroud started up-front as Deschamps guided France to World Cup glory in 2018.

Olivier Giroud remains an important part of Didier Deschamps' plans for France ahead of the Euros later this year, but has admitted his lack of current playing time at Chelsea is of huge concern.

SPECIAL REPORT BY DANIEL MATTHEWS IN LYON: To many in France, the 32-year-old is a footballing pariah. At Real Madrid, however, Benzema is approaching immortality.

The Frenchman has not been selected since a friendly against Russia in March 2018, and missed out on his country's victorious World Cup campaign in Russia a few months later.

Benzema used an unflattering motor racing analogy to describe the perceived difference in quality between himself and Chelsea striker Giroud, who replaced him in the France team.

Already-qualified hosts France preserved their perfect record to top Group A with a 1-0 win against 10-woman Nigeria thanks to Wendie Renard's 79th minute penalty.

The Chelsea striker tucked home in the 66th minute of the Group H clash in Reykjavik after Antoine Griezmann had been kicked by Ari Skulason.

The Aussie hunk used a ring pop candy to propose to the Canadian beauty on Too Hot To Handle's reunion special, released by Netflix on Friday.

Chris Brown got to work with his adorable daughter Royalty during a fun photoshoot this week.

Italian Football Federation are hoping to restart the Serie A season in mid May, and with that in mind Juventus have allowed Adrien Rabiot to return to France for the remainder of the lockdown period.

Euro 2016 may have got the final it deserved as Portugal beat France in a low-key affair on Sunday night, but the fans showed that they were the life and soul of the party over the past month.

British Airways is set to move its Airbus A380 aircraft to France's Chateauroux Centre Marcel Dassault Airport as the company tries to reduce its operations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Federal prosecutors say 65-year-old Cornelius Tilton, of New Orleans, was seated next to a 19-year-old man on a flight from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty International Airport.

The claim has been made by Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell in a new documentary called 'Princess Diana's Wicked Stepmother' that focuses on Countess Raine Spencer.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the 94-year-old who was President of France between 1974 and 1981, is accused of touching a female journalist intimately and without her consent.

Dembele's strike was the only goal but that result means both France and Romania - who beat Aidy Boothroyd's England side 4-2 earlier in the day - are unable to be caught with one game remaining.

The Cannes Film Festival has been postponed for the first time in its history due to the coronavirus crisis, organisers revealed on Thursday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the pact, inked in the ancient western German city of Aachen today, aims to build a 'common military culture' between Germany and France.

Isolated and uncomfortable, his body language was remarkably different from US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who appeared at home and relaxed.

While he did not inexplicably name Nazi Germany, it was clear that Chris Matthews was equating the Democratic establishment to the French during World War II.

Martin Scorsese, 76, was accompanied by Helen Morris, 72, and his two daughters Cathy, 53, and Francesca, 19, during a red carpet appearance at the 14th Film Festival in Rome on Monday.

The Welshman came off his bike around 30 kilometres from the end of stage four and received medical attention at the side of the road. He provided a positive update on Wednesday morning.

Geraint Thomas has been named joint team leader by INEOS for the Tour de France alongside Colombian Egan Bernal. That is despite his superior Grand Tour experience over his team-mate..

Mark Cavendish has been left out of the Dimension Data team that will compete in this year's Tour de France. It is the first time in 13 years that the British rider will not compete in France.

Some 24 hours before Team INEOS announced that Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal would start the Tour de France as joint leaders, the cycling team offered their defending champion to the media.

In the same month that Milos Raonic and Felix Auger-Aliassime aim to elevate Canadian tennis to new heights, Michael Woods will ride across France in the hope of making history of his own

Earlier this week news broke that Dimension Data's team principal, Doug Ryder, ignored the recommendation by performance boss Rolf Aldag to include Cavendish in line-up.

Geraint Thomas joked he would be happy with an 'uneventful' Tour de France as long as a Team Ineos rider is stood on the top step in Paris at the end of the month.

The 2019 Tour de France will roll away from the Place Royale in Brussels with the fallout over Mark Cavendish's non-selection by his Dimension Data team continuing to make headlines.