Karim Benzema took his tally of international goals to 23 with a double as France started their World Cup campaign in fine style with a 3-0 win over Honduras in Porto Alegre.
However, it was the first time in three tries that the Real Madrid hitman had delivered for his country at a major international tournament.
The most high-profile of the much touted 1987 French generation that has failed produce the early results they promised on the international stage, Benzema is now in his prime at 26 and finally looks capable of burdening the responsibility of leading the French attack.
"I am very satisfied the team won and from a personal point of view I managed to score two goals," he said.
"I just want to play my football without thinking about any pressure."
Benzema's status as the key component in Didier Deschamps' system has been enhanced by the withdrawal of Franck Ribery due to a back injury.
On Sunday, Benzema was flanked by the creative duo of Antoine Griezmann and Mathieu Valbuena and, although Deschamps was keen to hail his team's performance as a whole, he reserved special words of praise for Benzema.
"Karim is of course the man who was decisive. He scored the goals. This evening I made a choice given our opponents to have an offensive line that was very athletic.
"Be it Karim, Antoine or Mathieu they all played very well as did the midfield and that allowed us to break down the Hondurans.
