Third time lucky for France

France won the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship at the third time of asking after outplaying Norway in a 2-0 victory at the Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark in Leipzig.

Streak ended
Bruno Bini had coached the French to final defeats by Denmark in 1998 - then an Under-18 event - and Germany last year, yet a third loss was never in question after Lilas Traïkia scored in the first attack of the second half to add to Amélie Coquet's goal. While the French celebrate becoming only the fourth nation to win the crown, Norway coach Jarl Torske is left to ponder a second final defeat after his class of 1999 were beaten by Germany.

Skarbø busy
Norway goalkeeper Erika Espeseth Skarbø was the busiest player on the pitch in a first half played in blazing sunshine, showing her credentials after just a minute when getting down low to palm an Elise Bussaglia drive to safety. In the ninth minute Bussaglia curled a pass into the path of Traïkia but her slow shot was brilliantly saved by Skarbø with her feet at the near post.

Coquet opener
Three minutes later Skarbø raced off her line to deny the on-rushing Traïkia, yet was finally beaten in the 18th minute. Coquet began the move, releasing Traïkia on the right who cut inside and drilled a fierce shot at Skarbø who could do nothing to prevent the rebound falling into the path of Coquet who smashed it high into the roof of the net. France almost doubled their lead, only to be frustrated by Skarbø who made amends for picking up a back-pass by diverting Bussaglia's shot on to the bar.

Instinctive volley
In the 26th minute Traïkia was felled on the edge of the area to present Bussaglia with a chance to increase her tally of three goals. She curled the ball around the wall but saw it ricochet away off the bottom of the post. France were completely dominant at this point and just after the half-hour Thiney played the ball over the Norway defence to Traïkia who drew another fine stop from Skarbø with an instinctive half-volley.

Deflected goal
Norway finally made an impression as the half drew to a close, when Tone Heimlund almost got on the end of a Natalia Galvez Santis cross after it had deceived France goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi. Yet hopes of a comeback were dashed 30 seconds into the second half when Traïkia deflected a shot past Skarbø following good work by Gaëtane Thiney, who was suspended for the 2-0 semi-final victory against England.

Wingers introduced
Wingers Lene Mykjåland and Stine Frantzen – who could not start due to sickness –  were introduced and both had chances to set up a tense finale, only for Mykjåland to skew a shot wide and Frantzen to shoot at Bouhaddi after latching on to a Marie-Claude Herlem back-pass.

Hoodoo broken
In between those openings Skarbø denied Traïkia once again before the striker was replaced by Cécilia Josserand. The substitute pulled an excellent chance to score her third goal of the tournament over the bar but it did not matter as France played out time to break their final hoodoo.