Brazil 1-2 France: Mbappe, Ekitike lead 10-man Les Bleus to victory

10-man France beat Brazil 2-1 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Thursday as Kylian Mbappe and Hugo Ekitike dinked home in each half to underline the incredible quality Les Bleus have in attack.

Mbappe raced away and dinked home a sumptuous finish in the first half but at the start of the second half Dayot Upamecano was sent off after a VAR review for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Hugo Ekitike scored a few minutes later to put France 2-0 up as the Liverpool star dinked home from closer range than Mbappe.

Late on Brazil put France under serious pressure as Bremer made it 2-1 but Vinicius Junior and Co. couldn’t find an equalizer in an entertaining tune-up between two superpowers expected to make a deep run at the 2026 World Cup this summer.

France’s star quality in attack shines bright

A front four of Hugo Ekitike on the left, Kylian Mbappe through the middle, Ousmane Dembele on the right and Michael Olise as a Number 10 just isn’t fair. France’s forward quartet oozed class and whenever Brazil gave them a smidgen of space they connected right away and could sustain attacks and speed them up whenever they wanted to. With Barcola, Doue, Kolo Muani, Thuram and Cherki also in the mix, Didier Deschamps knows his side can blow opponents away with their attacking creativity and directness. Given a few question marks about their defense, this win proved that France’s best chance of success at the World Cup this summer is to go with an ultra attacking lineup.

Brazil vs France score: 1-2

Bremer 79′; Mbappe 32′, Ekitike 65′

Bremer makes it 2-1!

A free kick to the back post is somehow kept in by Casemiro and his ball finds Henrique. He bobbles the ball back across goal and Bremer taps home from close range. Can Brazil rescue a draw from this late!?

Ekitike puts 10-man France 2-0 up!

Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise sets up Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike and he clips home a lovely dinked finish. Down to 10 players, France go 2-0 up!

Wesley brought down on the edge of the box… and Upamecano is sent off!

Brazil are on over the top and Wesley is brought down by Upamecano on the edge of the box. Some of the Brazil players want a penalty kick but he was outside the box. Upamecano is booked… but the referee has gone to the monitor as VAR tell him to look at the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. He decides to overturn his original decision and Upamecano is sent off! France aren’t happy with that. It looked like Konate was covering…

Maignan denies Henrique

On at half time, Henrique cuts inside and drills a shot on goal which Maignan pushes away. The ball then drops to Casemiro on the edge of the box but his shot is way over.

Casemiro’s low shot flies just wide

Brazil want a few fouls but aren’t getting them and Casemiro just hit a low shot that he’s adamant Maignan got a touch on, but no corner is given. Casemiro is booked for dissent and his reaction in the face of the referee was well over the top.

Mbappe dinks home the opener!

Tchaouameni wins the ball back brilliantly and Dembele sets Mbappe free on the counter. He races clear and dinks home superbly over Ederson. So cool, so calm. 1-0 to France!

Martinelli curls just wide!

Arsenal striker Gabriel Martinelli curls a fine effort just wide of the far post. This game is just chugging along nicely.

Brazil lineup

Ederson; Wesley, Bremer, Pereira, Santos; Raphinha, Casemiro, Santos, Martinelli; Cunha, Vinicius Junior

France lineup

Maignan; Gusto, Konate, Upamecano, Hernandez; Tchaouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Olise, Ekitike; Mbappe

Brazil team news, focus

Ancelotti has called up plenty of new players for this squad with Premier League attacking duo Igor Thiago (Brentford) and Rayan (Bournemouth) set for their Brazil debuts. Vinicius Junior, Matheus Cunha and Raphinha should lead the line, while Alisson is missing in goal through injury so this is a big chance for Ederson to underline his importance. Marquinhos, Danilo, Casemiro and Fabinho all add incredible experience and there are some big chances for the likes of Endrick, Joao Pedro, Andrey Santos and Gabriel Sara to try and make the World Cup squad.

France team news, focus

Kylian Mbappe has shaken off a recent knee issue to be available for France and Les Bleus have some pretty ridiculous attacking options. Hugo Ekitike, Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Randal Kolo Muani, Marcus Thuram, Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki have all been called up to this squad. My word. Plus the likes of William Saliba, Bradley Barcola and Jules Kounde are not in this squad. In defense France still have some questions to solve but everywhere else they have so many top quality options.

Brazil vs France preview

After a rough spell in World Cup qualifying, Carlo Ancelotti has come in and helped Brazil regain their confidence and there is a newfound solidity about the Selecao. That factor combined with their incredible forwards should see them go far in the World Cup this summer.

France boss Didier Deschamps will step down after this World Cup and after winning it all in 2018 and losing to Argentina on penalty kicks in the final in 2022, the legendary Frenchman will be eager to go out on a high. France probably have the deepest and most talented squad in the world right now.

Brazil vs France prediction

This feels like it’s going to be a really fun one with so many attacking stars on show. Brazil 2-3 France.

How to watch Brazil vs France live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 4pm ET Thursday (March 26)

Venue: Gillette Stadium — Foxborough, Massachusetts

TV Channel: ESPN 2, ESPN Deportes

Streaming: ESPN+