Friday's World Cup qualifiers witnessed France and Italy gain points in style. 

France struck early through Michael Olise and sealed their points with a late Kylian Mbappe breakaway to beat Ukraine 2-0. Italy battered Estonia with a 5-0 home win, with Mateo Retegui bagging two goals adding to Moise Kean, Giacomo Raspadori and Alessandro Bastoni's second half contributions. 

The result gives France an early edge in Group D against Iceland and Azerbaijan. Italy currently sit third in Group I on six points from three games, with Norway in first place and Israel following closely behind.

Mbappe's 82nd-minute strike, set up by his Real Madrid teammate Aurelien Tchouameni, lifted the forward to 51 international goals, drawing him level with Thierry Henry in second place on France’s all-time scoring list behind Olivier Giroud (57).

The spotlight was also on new Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso, whose side was left rattled after a 3-0 defeat at Norway in June that cost coach Luciano Spalletti his job.

Italy now turn to Monday’s decisive clash against Israel, while France face Iceland next on Tuesday.

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