Dimitri Payet’s stunner rescues France’s welcome party against Romania

 Dimitri Payet celebrates his superb late winner for France against Romania. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty

When Dimitri Payet’s number went up, the enormity of what he had just done hit him with the force of a wrecking ball. France’s Euro 2016 curtain-raiser looked set to end in frustration and, possibly, recriminations but with one sumptuous swing of his left boot Payet changed the complexion of the evening.

With the 90 minutes almost up, and Romania looking value for a draw, the West Ham United forward picked up possession outside the area, jinked inside and let fly. The shot flew unerringly into the far, top corner and the championship had its lift-off moment.


Payet had excelled during his debut Premier League campaign but this was something else. Romania were crushed and, when Payet was substituted in injury-time and the stadium rose to acclaim him, the tears welled in his eyes. He tried to hold them back but he could not.


When they trickled down his face, it was the standout image of a helter-skelter evening in which France had been charged with offering a tonic to a nation that surely needed one. The buildup had been testing, with the national state of emergency lending an understandable edginess. Elsewhere for France there have been the strikes and the floods, the race rows and the scandals. The football was supposed to bring succour.


It did so in the end, but only after a performance that was undercut by anxiety and which did little to embellish France’s status as the tournament favourites. They were indebted to Hugo Lloris for a close-range block from Bogdan Stancu in the early running and also for a gilt-edged miss by the Romania midfielder at the beginning of the second half. The result could have gone the other way.

France’s match-winner Dimitri Payet overcome by emotion of late drama

Olivier Giroud had one of those games with which Arsenal supporters have become familiar over the second half of the season. Three times he missed chances – the first was clear-cut – but he was able to give France the lead after an error from the Romania goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu, who came for a Payet cross only to miss it. Tatarusanu felt he had been impeded by Giroud and the Romania manager, Anghel Iordanescu, said he could not and did not want to answer questions about the incident.


Romania were never out of contention and they drew level when France failed to clear Adrian Popa’s cross from the right. The excellent Nicolae Stanciu surged towards goal and he was blocked by a reckless challenge from Patrice Evra. The stadium howled when the penalty was bravely and correctly awarded by the Hungarian referee, Viktor Kassai, and Stancu rolled it past Lloris. Payet, though, would fashion the sting in the tale.


After the pomp of the opening ceremony, which had featured can-can dancers, a levitating Eiffel Tower and David Guetta – among many other things – France struggled to come to terms with the occasion.


Didier Deschamps, the manager, referenced how his players had begun in “timid” fashion.


The hosts spurned two glorious chances to get the early goal they craved. Payet crossed only for the unmarked Giroud to head wastefully wide and Antoine Griezmann hit the post at the second attempt after initially missing his kick from Bacary Sagna’s cross. The ball rebounded to him off Vlad Chiriches.


Romania ought to have been in front with their first meaningful chance, and what a chance it was. Stanciu’s corner was flicked on and Stancu looked certain to score at the far post from three yards out. His shot, though, was too close to Lloris, who saved instinctively. It was a pivotal moment. From the resulting corner Florin Andone looped a header on to the roof of the net.


Deschamps accepted his team’s performance was far from perfect and it was curious to see how peripheral Paul Pogba was. Griezmann also laboured and both of them were substituted. Griezmann dragged his heels as he departed. Evra had a poor game and there were times when France looked shaky at the back.

Griezmann went close towards the end of a subdued first half and Giroud, having outmuscled Chiriches on a corner, headed high but Romania could lament Stancu’s miss in the 47th minute. Stanciu’s cross was perfect and so was the timing of Stancu’s run and first touch. The side-on volley was set up but he shinned it wide.


France sought to turn the screw. Giroud worked Tatarusanu when he might have done better and Pogba – France’s poster boy for the championship – extended the Romania goalkeeper more fully with a vicious volley from Payet’s cross.


The breakthrough came when Tatarusanu flapped at another Payet delivery. Perhaps he had been unnerved by the manner in which Giroud jumped; the striker appeared to lead with his elbow. There was no serious contact, though, and Giroud was able to guide a header into the empty net.


Game over? Not at all. Only Evra knew what he was thinking about when he hung out a leg at Stanciu and Stancu sensed redemption with his penalty conversion. The last word, however, went to Payet.

Dimitri Payet
France
PositionMidfielder
ClubWest Ham United
Age29
Caps20
Goals4
Guardian ratingMatch #1: 9

Has appeared only intermittently since making his debut in 2010 and was omitted from the last World Cup because of inconsistency. After being given a final chance to impress during the March friendlies, he seized it with style, Deschamps declaring: "Every time he touched the ball he showed his quality.” At Nantes early in his career, Payet was handed a two-year amateur contract - a deal that led him to take on part-time work in a local clothes shop to supplement his income. Judging from the jumper-folding skills he showed in footage which emerged on Youtube earlier this year, it did not do him any harm.