With more than 100 goals combined across club and country last season, France unleashed four of the game’s best attackers in their final World Cup warm-up on Monday.
But while Kylian Mbappe’s bid to match Olivier Giroud’s France goalscoring record fell short and, after winning the Champions League with PSG, Ousmane Demebele and Desire Doue were kept relatively quiet, it was Michael Olise who stole the show against Northern Ireland.
The Bayern Munich winger scored his first international hat-trick to give France a winning send off to Boston, Massachusetts.
His first goal had a touch of fortune as he latched onto Dembele’s deflected shot, but his second was a thunderous finish before he completed his hat-trick with a delightful, curling effort.
Before the game, in his BBC Sport column, Gael Clichy, who coached Olise at the Paris Olympics, said he had the potential to be the breakthrough star at the tournament.
For former France striker Louis Saha, the star showing from Olise was “what we expect from such a player” – and he has a big target in mind.
“Consistency is the hardest and from his point of view, you have to be in that conversation every time you want a Ballon d’Or,” said BBC Sport NI pundit Saha.
“That is what he wants and that is why those performances are the norm for [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo. I think that is what he is dreaming of and that is what we want in the World Cup.”
When asked if 24-year-old Olise, who was born in England, can take a step into Ballon d’Or contention, Saha highlighted Olise’s “mentality” during his three years at Crystal Palace as being pivotal, before he moved to Bayern Munich in 2024.
And, referring to Mbappe and last year’s winner Dembele, he added: “It is unbelievable in this [France] squad to have three possible Ballon d’Or winners.”
