Benzema leads France to victory over Portugal

Karim Benzema added an assist to an early goal to outshine his Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo as France claimed a 2-1 victory at home over Portugal.

It was a European Championship qualifier/international friendly held at the Stade de France here Saturday, since the home side have already qualified by virtue of being the hosts for the 2016 edition but play against all teams in Group I as preparation, reports Xinhua.

Benzema opened the scoring in as early as the third minute when Bacary Sagna's shot was parried away by Rui Patricio but the rebounded landed kindly for Benzema.

The 26-year-old was again in a key position in the 69th minute as he received a pass from the left and laid the ball off for an onrushing Paul Pogba, whose low effort just went past Patricio and into the bottom corner.

Eight minutes later, Pogba inadvertently clipped the heel of Joao Mario in the area and the visitors were awarded a penalty. Ricardo Quaresma fired it straight down the middle to give Portugal their only goal in the match.

France earn an automatic berth with other 53 European teams drawn into nine groups and top two of each group plus a best third-placed team advancing to the finals. The other eight third-placed will vie for the remaining four spots through playoffs.