Flowing France leave Austria reeling

Antoine Griezmann and substitute Alexandre Lacazette both struck twice as hosts France won 5-0 to move to the verge of the semi-finals; all but ending Austrian aspirations in the process.

Les Bleus kicked off their campaign with a 4-1 victory against the Netherlands on Sunday but initially found the going much tougher in Flers. Griezmann's exquisite 19th-minute strike was all that separated the sides until midway through the second half when Lacazette opened the floodgates with the first of four goals in 17 minutes.

Austria emerged from the bombardment with their UEFA European Under-19 Championship hopes over barring a remarkable set of results when Group A concludes on Saturday. It had all begun so well, with Andreas Weimann going close early on before Griezmann hit them with a thunderbolt, controlling Chris Mavinga's chip out of defence and dispatching a fine strike into the far corner.

Mavinga was again in the thick of it two minutes later as his sliding tackle prevented Weimann a run on goal. The Aston Villa FC forward did beat his marker soon after but was unable to divert a cross from the excellent Georg Teigl past goalkeeper Abdoulaye Diallo. It was as good as it got for Andreas Heraf's men, and from the moment Clément Grenier's free-kick forced Philip Petermann into a fine save early in the second period it was all France.

Gaël Kakuta fashioned breathing space on 66 minutes when he dribbled past three defenders before teeing up for Lacazette to chip in. Another replacement was pivotal to France's third seven minutes later, Enzo Reale stealing the ball on the right wing and delivering for Griezmann to convert from point-blank range. Reale got on the scoresheet himself soon after before Griezmann added the gloss seven minutes from time, going on a mazy run and providing a magnificent through ball for Lacazette to finish low into the net.