Lucas Chevalier was hoping for a clean sheet for his first start in the French team. The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper, launched by Didier Deschamps on Sunday in Azerbaijan (1-3) for the 2026 World Cup qualifying match, did not succeed. The former Lilloins player didn’t have much to do in Baku, against an obviously weaker team, but he still couldn’t keep his clean sheet.
Chevalier is not really at fault for the locals’ opening score at the very start of the match on Dadasov’s close range. But this goal conceded unfortunately allows him to become the goalkeeper to have conceded his first goal for the French team the fastest since… 1935. By going to get the ball in the back of his net in the 4th minute, Lucas Chevalier joins a somewhat glorious list of French goalkeepers beaten very early.
The last to concede a goal after 4 minutes of play in the rooster’s jersey is RenĂ© Llense. He then defended the colors of FC Sète, after a career marked by stints with AS Saint-Etienne in particular.
Berthelot untouchable?
Jean Loubière and Alexis Thépot also took their first selection after 4 minutes, which is however slower than Raymond Frémont (3 minutes) and especially than Charles Berthelot, unfortunate record holder since his goal conceded in… 1923, during his only call-up against the Netherlands during a heavy defeat (1-8).
Despite this unenviable record, this first tenure remains an important step for Chevalier, who is discovering the French team and the demands of the highest international level. His adventure in Blue has only just begun. This experience, even frustrating, could well serve as a springboard for him to establish himself sustainably in the future, while joining the long line of French goalkeepers who have written their history with the selection.
