Goals from Olivier Giroud and Andre Pierre Gignac at the end of either half gave Didier Deschamps' France a moral boosting 2-0 victory over the current World Champions.
In a first half dominated by either defences, it would take a moment of brilliance to open the scoring and courtesy of Anthony Martial it came; the Manchester United man doing all he could to tee up Olivier Giroud who had the simplest of tasks to give Les Bleus the lead. Joachim Löw's side came out in the second half and nearly grabbed an equaliser, but Thomas Müller's effort crashed against the post. Returning from the international wilderness, Gignac rounded off the scoring with a powerful header moments from full time.
Defences on top
The hosts started in determined style, as was to be expected with a whole host of players looking stake their claim in Deschamps starting XI. Both Bacary Sagna and his opposite Patrice Evra were taking every opportunity to gallop down their touchline, although Antonio Rüdiger and Mats Hummels were doing their upmost to halt their efforts.
It took until the seventh minute for die Mannschaft to become accustomed with their surroundings and hold the ball for any notable amount of time. Yet any hint of an attack was halted by the ever impervious Raphael Varane.
The makeshift defence fielded by Löw found problems with lofted balls from Les Bleus and it was from this route that Deschamps side nearly took the lead. Paul Pogba swept the ball from deep into the path of Martial, who looked almost to have a clear run at Manuel Neuer, however Rüdiger was at hand once more to deal with the danger. The physical presence of the AS Roma man proving to be a real asset against the Manchester United man, Martial.
Some decisive passing from Hummels led to Germany's first potential major effort of the half; yet courtesy of even more fantastic defending by Varane, the danger was snuffed out before Mario Gomez could seize the moment and give the World Cup winners the lead. However, the Real Madrid man was hapless to stop Müller, as the 26-year-old could once more feed the aforementioned Gomez, but with seemingly the goal at his mercy opted for power rather than placement and sent his stinging shot over the bar. It comes as no surprise that the Besiktas SK man is without an international goal since a double in a 2-1 against the Netherlands at Euro 2012.
Moment of magic
It was evident that with both defences on top, that it would take a real moment of magic to unlock the deadlock and this came only seconds before the break courtesy of Martial.
The gangly forward, deployed out left by Deschamps, picked up the ball from wide and drove towards goal. With a side step, Martial glidded past Rüdiger then weaved by Matthias Ginter with ease before teeing up Olivier Giroud, who rounded off what was a stunning piece of play by Les Bleus with a cool finish past the helpless Neuer. The Arsenal striker dispatching his thirteenth in French colours, in what happened to be Friday the 13th.
More open second half
The late Giroud goal forced die Mannschaft to become more open at the beginning of the second half yet this didn't have the desired affect for Löw in the following 15 minutes, as given the imputous gained before the break the French were keen to double their lead and had Bastian Schweinsteiger and co penned back in their own half.
Despite being lauded as a capable central defender, there remains doubts over Rüdiger's technical abilities as on too many occassions the former VfB Stuttgart man gave the ball away needlessly, putting his team under due pressure. It was from this shortcoming that France would enjoy the majority of their early half pressure from; the impressive Martial targetting Rüdiger yet in terms of defensive abilties, the defender was able to match his French counterparts on these occassions.
However, save for a half chance giroud header Les Bleus came out of the promising spell with nothing to show for their good work and the inniative thus switched back to die Mannschaft.
Leroy Sané entered the play midway through the half, the promising FC Schalke 04 midfielder had impressed in domestic action this campaign and was rewarded by Löw with his national team debut.
Not unnerved by his earlier misses, Gomez nearly drew Germany level after drifting through the France defence. Yet Hugo Lloris was at hand to rush out and smother the ball before Gomez could level the scores. Thomas Müller however would come that bit closer and was inches from an equaliser; Picking up the ball from twenty five-yards before swivelling and crashing an effort of Lloris' upright. An equaliser looked more of an when, than if at this stage.
Dream return for Big-Mac
With a move to Tigres Monterrey and Mexico, for many it looked to signal an end to any hope of international football for Andre Pierre Gignac; yet after some impressive form in the Latin American country, that caught the attention of Deschamps, the former Marseille man was back in action for les Bleus and he would mark ithe occassion in the only way possible, a goal.
Industrious as always, Blaise Matuidi 'blazed' down the left hand channel before whipping in an inch perfect ball that evaded the head of Hummels. In rushed Gignac to perfectly time his header and power the ball past a once again helpless Manuel Neuer. An unassailable 2-0 lead for Les Bleus with little over ten minutes to go and a crucial confident boosting victory over the World Champions.