Prior to kick-off, head coach of France, Raymond Domenech, had said that les Bleus would treat the fixture as they would a competitive encounter. The capacity crowd was not be let down as Argentina responded, contributing to a highly intense fixture, which the Albiceleste would win 2-0 thanks to goals from Jonas Gutierrez and Lionel Messi.

Even in defeat, Domenech has treated the encounter as a largely positive affair, stating that his players would have taken a great deal from the match. We learned tonight, he declared to television station TF1 in the immediate aftermath of the game. The players have learned a lot. It was a good team against a great team. We showed that we too have quality. We must now confirm that in the [World Cup] qualifiers because the opposition we faced this evening was strong.

Question marks will still be raised about the defence. After keeping a clean sheet against Uruguay in November, the French rearguard once again looked suspect. Goalkeeper Steve Mandanda had an unconvincing match while both goals came down the flank of right-back Bacary Sagna. Even the central defensive pairing of William Gallas and Philippe Mexes did not look entirely convincing.

Domenech has just over a month to iron these problems out or hope his players were schooled sufficiently this evening to eradicate their errors.