5 Euro 2016 Truths: Dimitri Payet lights up Paris, Olivier Giroud shuts up critics

Dimitri Payet had already bewitched the crowd at Stade de France with a magical performance before producing one of the great moments in Euros history. It might sound like an over exaggeration, but when Payet left the field in injury time as a substitute to a standing ovation there were tears in his eyes for a reason. The gravity of what he had achieved in front of his home supporters had overwhelmed him.

There has been so much talk in the build-up to Euro 2016 about what this tournament means to France, a country which has been attacked and divided. It was said the French needed a moment to unify the nation, and maybe Payet provided it with his scorching 89th-minute winner to secure a 2-1 win over Romania in the opening game of Group A.

The playmaker has produced some special moments for West Ham this season but his incredible drive from 20 yards - and what it meant for a country - topped it all.

But it was just a snapshot in a whole reel of highlights. Payet also supplied the assist for Olivier Giroud’s opening goal and the way he strode across the pitch at Stade de France, imperious and elegant, made this a true masterclass. It’s only one game in, but if Euro 2016 witnesses a better individual performance than this then we will be shocked.

On the eve of the match, France coach Didier Deschamps instructed his players to “set the tone for the whole tournament”. The two players most likely to do so were surely Juventus genius Paul Pogba and Atletico Madrid’s livewire forward Antoine Griezmann, the two biggest stars in the home team. But neither man finished the match and instead it was Payet who set the standard of excellence which the rest of the tournament must try and match.

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During the first half in Paris, the absent Karim Benzema posted a rather melancholic picture of himself watching the match on a huge TV at his home. His place in the squad was untenable after he was charged in relation to a plot to blackmail team-mate Mathieu Valbuena but his absence was felt as France, and Giroud in particular, missed a host of chances in the opening 50 minutes.

With arguably the best midfield in the tournament and, in Payet, and Griezmann, two wide players full of threat and purpose, the feeling started to take hold that France would benefit from a truly lethal centre-forward after Giroud missed two huge headed chances in the first half and then in the second, despite having done well to carve out a shooting opportunity, fired straight at the keeper.

But then, he scored. Payet supplied a gorgeous cross from the right and Giroud climbed bravely into the air to get his head to the ball, with Romania keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu making a mess of his attempt to pluck the ball out of the air. Giroud has had his critics of late – he was booed in pre-tournament friendlies by France fans – but he got the hosts’ party started at Stade de France.

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On top of Giroud and Payet, the Premier League is supplying 135 players at Euro 2016 - the Bundesliga is the next most prolific league with only 65 - and the tournament started by showcasing some of the very best players English football has to offer. Giroud and Payet’s contributions have been covered, but Leicester City’s N’Golo Kante also demonstrated on opening night against Romania why he will be preyed over by the biggest clubs in Europe this summer.

Kante, who this time last season was playing for Ligue 2 side Caen, patrolled the deep midfield with all the tenacity and energy we have come to expect from the best holding midfielder in England, snapping into tackles, making timely interceptions and covering every blade of grass. He is set to be one of the stars of the tournament.

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Being labelled ‘the new Gheorghe Hagi’ is quite something. That honour has fallen to Nicolae Stanciu, the 23-year-old Romanian No. 10, and if he didn’t quite hit those heights, he was nevertheless the brightest spark for his country, playing with real intelligence and winning the penalty for Romania to equalise. A night like this was unavoidably all about France – how could it be otherwise? – but in Stanciu’s performance Romania also had something to cling to, even if the late goal scored by Payet was a killer punch.

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Patrice Evra has a bit of a chequered history with the France national team. Despite making 75 appearances, he was involved in a tunnel bust-up with team-mates at Euro 2008 and banned for five games after his role in the French player strike in South Africa in 2010. Euro 2016 didn’t get off to the best of starts either. It was the Juventus left-back who was guilty of allowing Romania back into the game when he brought down Stanciu in the box with a clumsy challenge, allowing Bogdan Stancu to fire the ball home from the penalty spot.