Greece delivered a hard-fought performance in France, though were just unable to maintain the clean sheet as they were handed their first loss in the Euros qualifying campaign.

The game finished 1-0 in favour of “Les Bleus” on Tuesday morning (AEST), thanks to a Kylian Mbappé penalty in the second half.

As expected, the French dominated proceedings with the lion’s share of possession and chances which the “blue-whites” largely withstood.

The match had its first decisive moment in the 53rd minute when the home side won a penalty, with goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos saving Mbappé’s first attempt with a strong dive to his right.

Slight controversy ensued after it was found that centre half Konstantinos Mavropanos had run into the box before the spot-kick, meaning the penalty was retaken and this time the French captain made no mistake as he buried it into the top right (55′).

Any hope of earning a result from the contest was put to bed when Mavropanos was handed a red card for a last-man challenge on striker Randal Kolo Muani just outside the box (69′).

France did not add any further goals as they held on for their fourth straight win of the qualifiers, with the Greeks, in turn, copping their first defeat.

Greece manager Gus Poyet admitted this was the national side’s toughest game in his tenure and praised the effort from his players while stressing that they will have to get used to the quality of these sides if they are to successfully make it through to the Euros.

“I don’t like to lose but it’s definitely not easy to play here and we have a lot to learn from the game,” Mr Poyet told media post-match.

“Today we played against high-quality players. It was a big game for us. If we want to go to the Euros, we have to play at this level.”

The result keeps the “Ethniki” in second place which, if they can remain in come the end of the campaign, will be sufficient for direct entry into the 2024 European championships.

Ireland navigated Gibraltar comfortably in the other fixture of the group, beating them 3-0 at home to make up for their disappointing loss to Greece in the previous matchday.

This gave Ireland their first points to officially kickstart their own qualifying campaign after falling just short in their previous two encounters with France and Greece.

Group B Standings

1-France: 12 (4)

2-Greece: 6 (3)

3-Ireland: 3 (3)

4-Netherlands: 3 (2)

5-Gibraltar: 0 (4)