Gignac back with a bang as France beat Armenia

• André-Pierre Gignac ends five-year wait for France goal
• France take tally to 32 goals in 2014, their highest return since 2003
• Bernard Challandes blames fatigue but says Armenia are real force

André-Pierre Gignac continued his fine start to the season with his first international goal in five years as France eased to a 3-0 friendly victory over Armenia.

The Olympique de Marseille forward, returning to the fold for the first time since the 2010 FIFA World Cup, converted from the spot as the visitors made light work of their opponents in Yerevan. It doubled a lead given to them by Loïc Rémy's early goal, and substitute Antoine Griezmann completed the scoring late on.

Gignac took the headlines, though, after showing some of the form that has brought him nine Ligue 1 goals already for Marseille this term. It was his pass that Rémy tucked in after a seventh-minute counterattack by Didier Deschamps's experimental side, and while he was denied by Roman Berezovski before the interval, there was no stopping him when Paul Pogba was brought down after the restart.

France kept pushing for a third, Rémy and Pogba going close before Griezmann sprang the offside trap seven minutes from time to seal a 3-0 win.

REACTION
Didier Deschamps, France coach
I liked the Armenia team – they can do much better but obviously hadn't recovered after the match against Serbia. We had some problems during the first half. I didn't say anything special to my players during the break; they just started to do what they needed. We won because our players played with motivation and enthusiasm.

Bernard Challandes, Armenia coach
This was a very difficult match for us. I wasn't surprised by the result, but I am proud of my players because they turned out after a very difficult game with Serbia three days ago. I don't have the luxury of a lot of players to choose from, like Didier Deschamps does, but we have a chance to go to France [in 2016] and, I tell you, every team should take us seriously.