French storm to win

An exhilarating match on an extraordinary night in Donetsk, with play suspended for almost an hour because of a thunderstorm, ended with France beating their hosts to go top of Group D and a long way towards securing a place in the knockout stages.

Even before kick-off in the Donbass Arena, the atmosphere was building towards a special night. Thunderstorms had been predicted and shortly before the start the crackling sky confirmed that lightning was present — and rain was not far away. Just as La Marseilleise was interupted by an intense thunderclap that created the perfect backdrop for a match already electric with tension, so the heavens began to open.

What was steady rain became torrential, and as lightning forked the sky above the magnificent Donbass Arena, referee Bjorn Kuipers had no alternative but to take the players off with barely four minutes on the clock.