Antoine Griezmann Finally Arrives at Euro 2016 as France Edge Ireland

France are into the quarter-finals of the 2016 UEFA European Championship after a second-half recovery saw them past the 10 men of the Republic of Ireland 2-1 at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon on Sunday.

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Robbie Brady’s penalty inside of the opening two minutes put Martin O’Neill’s men in front, and that lead lasted until half-time.

However, the hosts woke up for the second 45 and two Antoine Griezmann goals secured a narrow victory, while Shane Duffy saw red for a foul on the Atletico Madrid man after 66 minutes.

Speaking with TF1 (h/t ESPN FC) after the final whistle, France coach Didier Deschamps admitted that the Irish posed his side problems and revealed his satisfaction at the result:

"

Sometimes it's difficult. When you concede a penalty at the start of a match it made us tense, and the Irish can play a bit. It was hard for us, but mission accomplished.

The players need discipline, but sometimes we're better when we go a bit crazy. We really sped things up, and that's when we are most dangerous.

We really had to dig deep to get through this situation. This team is really bringing a lot of emotion to the crowd and making everybody fall in love with them.

There's a lot of emotion here in Lyon and we really needed this great support that we had from the fans.

"

It was a match of two halves for Griezmann, with the 25-year-old struggling through the first 45 before thriving in the second.

The France No. 7’s two goals came once Les Bleus had changed formation at the break, with Deschamps switching from a 4-3-3 with the former Real Sociedad man out wide to a 4-2-3-1 with him as a support striker for Olivier Giroud.

In his preferred role, Griezmann immediately reacted and scored twice in the space of three second-half minutes.

Speaking after the match, the man from Macon credited Deschamps’ half-time team talk for the turnaround: "We didn't play well in the first half and we said things in the changing room. The coach said things, the players said things...but we were playing for France to give everything we had. Our fans helped us, and we are happy that we managed to get there."

Now that Griezmann has finally put in the sort of performance that many were expecting of him pre-tournament, he will well and truly have taken some of the weight of expectation off of his shoulders.

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Deschamps, now that he has seen what Griezmann can do in his preferred central attacking role, must continue to play him there with Giroud as the focal point to take care of the physical side of things.

With the quarter-final, as well as a potential semi-final and final to come, France will be far more of a threat if Griezmann is playing in his strongest position.

France team-mate Adil Rami told journalists after the game that all of Les Bleus’ matches have been difficult so far, and the Sevilla man recognised that Griezmann is better when played in his preferred role:

"

This is the case since the start of the Euro. It's hard to start our matches. The good thing to remember is that we are mentally strong. If that's enough to take us to the final, why not? But I think it will be difficult.

At 1-0, sincerely we were afraid and we had trouble. But it was impossible that (we would be) going home now. We played with more possession. It allowed me and (centre-back partner Laurent) Koscielny to be further apart.

The game (could breathe) and (we) had Griezmann (in) his true position ... it is very hard to stop him. He was lovely and could even have scored a hat trick.

"

Now that he has announced his arrival at Euro 2016, plenty of pressure will be on Griezmann to get France through their quarter-final tie—and possibly further.

Deschamps should be looking to help his star man by playing the same team that finished the Ireland game from the start against England or Iceland at Stade de France. If he can do that, then France making the semi-final becomes a stronger possibility.