On Friday night, Dimitri Payet carried on where he left off with West Ham in the Premier League by producing a superb individual display for France against Romania, culminating in a stunning late winning goal.
Les Bleus were nervy throughout the tournament curtain-raiser in Paris, with Oliver Giroud failing to make the most of a couple of good headed chances.
However, after the break, the much-maligned Arsenal man finally opened the scoring when he got his head to a centre from Payet.
A silly foul from Patrice Evra gave the Romanians a cheap spot-kick, which was converted by Bogdan Stancu as the Stade de France crowd got nervy again.
Then, on 89 minutes, Payet picked up the ball on the edge of the box before arrowing home a magnificent, match-winning curler.
¡PAYET! https://t.co/Mw1v47CLEg
— Rompe Redes (@RompeRedes1) June 10, 2016
The Hammers’ schemer was subbed off soon after, with the whole occasion reducing him to tears.
Payet cries as he comes off #TheBeautifulGame pic.twitter.com/nC823tsZPW
— Complex Sports (@Complex_Sports) June 10, 2016
Not the most impressive of starts for the hosts, however a win is a win and with Payet sublime, Paul Pogba looking sharp and Giroud already in the goals, Didier Deschamps side will be confident of success in the competition. While West Ham boss Slaven Bilic, a pundit for ITV for the Euros, will have a struggle on his hands to keep Payet this summer.
As for Anghel Iordănescu’s side, they’ll feel frustrated at losing the game so late after a disciplined and hard-working display which almost won them a precious point.