Michael Olise, something never seen since Michel Platini!
Author of a hat-trick on Monday against Northern Ireland, Michael Olise delivered a rare performance for the France team.
Four days after its defeat against Ivory Coast, the France team took advantage of its second and final preparation match before the start of the World Cup to return to victory. Opposed to Northern Ireland in Lille, the Blues logically won 3-1. A success which owes a lot to Michael Olise, author of the three French goals.
And thanks to this hat-trick, Michael Olise entered the annals of the France team. You have to go back more than 40 years to find a player scoring three goals in a rooster jersey without playing in the center forward position, according to Chroniques Bleues.
During Euro 1984, which he would crush with all his talent, with no less than 9 goals in just five matches, Michel Platini achieved this feat twice during the group stage, a first time against Belgium and a second time against Yugoslavia with a goal from the right, another from the left and the third with a header.
Kylian Mbappé, the specialist
Since then, all the players who have scored a hat-trick for the French team have been center forwards: Dominique Rocheteau during a France-Luxembourg in 1986 (6-0), David Trezeguet against a FIFA selection in 2000 (5-1), Olivier Giroud against Paraguay in 2017 (5-0) and Kylian Mbappé against Argentina in 2022 (3-3, 2-4 on penalties) then Gibraltar in 2023 (14-0), without forgetting its quadruple against Kazakhstan in 2021 (8-0).
In the history of the French team, there are only four players to have scored a hat-trick without playing at the forefront of the French attack. In addition to Michael Olise and Michel Platini: midfielder Edouard Crut against Latvia (7-0) in the round of 16 of the 1924 Olympic Games and winger Ernest Vaast in 1947 against Portugal (4-2).
