Paris: Ousmane Dembele fired the winner as 10-man France beat England 3-2 in an entertaining friendly on Tuesday after Harry Kane had scored twice for the visitors and Raphael Varane was sent off early in the second half.
Winger Dembele sealed the victory with an angular shot from inside the box 12 minutes from fulltime after being nicely set up by fellow youngster Kylian Mbappe.
England captain Kane put them ahead from close range off a low Ryan Bertrand cross before the 10-minute mark and levelled the game at 2-2 with a penalty early in the second half after Varane was sent off for bringing down Dele Alli in the box.
France had fought back to lead 2-1 at half-time, after defenders Samuel Umtiti and Djibril Sidibe each scored their first goal for their country. The two efforts were similar, with Umtiti and Sidibe both following up to finish after saves by England goalkeeper Tom Heaton, first from an Olivier Giroud header, then from a shot by Dembele.
Kane, who struck the late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Scotland in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday, has now scored 11 goals in his past five appearances for club and country combined. It was not enough, however, to deny a spirited and daring French side.
"We saw in that game the things we're very good at and equally the things we need to get better at, like defending as a team and managing a result," England coach Gareth Southgate told a news conference.
France coach Didier Deschamps, who was criticised for conservative tactics in a 1-2 defeat to Sweden in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday, revamped his team to put exciting newcomers Mbappe, Thomas Lemar and Dembele in his starting line-up.
The trio gave the England defence a hard time on several occasions, notably Mbappe, who rattled the crossbar with a curled left-footer shortly before setting up Dembele for his maiden goal for France.
"We scored a goal with 10 men against a good England side, which is quite an achievement," Deschamps said. "The players looked fresh and showed more initiative than against Sweden."
Tuesday's match, which was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May, was the first senior England fixture with a video assistant referee, who was consulted for Varane's red-card offence and the penalty that resulted from it.
Earlier, fans of England and France put aside their rivalry to unite in honouring the victims of the two terror attacks in Manchester and London last month.
Eight people were killed and 48 injured when three men attacked pedestrians on London Bridge, a week after twenty-two people were killed and 116 injured by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert.
When it came to singing the two national anthems, French football fans joined their English compatriots in singing God Save The Queen as fans inside the stadium held up red and white placards to recreate the Flag of St George.
Ordinarily the home team's anthem is played second but that honour was given to the English national anthem.
The gesture comes after England fans at Wembley sung La Marseillaise before a friendly versus France following the Paris terror attacks in November 2015.
The Republican Guard band had earlier played the iconic song by Oasis, Don't Look Back In Anger before the two teams emerged onto the pitch.
