DUBLIN – The Euro 2024 qualifiers may be just one game old but new France captain Kylian Mbappe has already signalled Les Bleus’ ambition to win the tournament.

Didier Deschamps’ side offered an ominous warning in their first match since losing the World Cup final to Argentina on penalties by hammering the Netherlands 4-0 at the Stade de France last week in their Group B opener.

Next up for them are Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Monday.

Ahead of that clash, Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final, told French TV programme Telefoot: “We have no problem in saying that we play in the best clubs in the world, we have players who are maybe among the best in their positions.

“Now it’s up to us to create that – because there are a lot of players who left – to move forward again and win titles.

“The objective, to start with, is to qualify for the Euros, and then of course it’ll be up to us to try and win it.”

Before that goal comes the challenge in the Irish capital.

Said the 24-year-old Paris Saint-Germain striker, who has 38 goals from 67 games: “It’s clear that if you look on paper, I’m putting myself in the shoes of those watching on TV, they’ll be thinking, how are we going to manage not to win it?”

At half-time against the Netherlands, Mbappe said: “Well done guys, well done, well done – that’s how you start a game. Don’t let them breathe, give them nothing.

“Same thing in the second half, the same thing. Don’t let up. That’s how we do it, guys.”

Defender Dayot Upamecano, who like his captain scored in that game, said there would be no let-up against the Irish.

He said: “We’re going to have to eat well, sleep well, because the matches are coming thick and fast. We play Ireland on Monday and we’ll attack them.”

Ireland manager Stephen Kenny, meanwhile, said his side need to meet French might with “fire and ice” to avoid a “slow death”.

Asked if he would adopt a conservative approach against the side he described as “the best team in the world over the last eight years”, he said: “Absolutely not. We’ve been working on a way of playing for the last two years.

“We’re very, very comfortable in possession, as comfortable as any team in Europe now.

“Do we just suddenly change and not have the courage to do that and just accept a slow death? Definitely not.

“We’ll need to show – fire and ice.

“We need to show fire, we need to have that level of tenacity in our play and aggression in our play, but also have composure in possession and have that level of calm in our play in possession. And it’s trying to combine the two.”

Also playing on Monday are the Dutch, who take on minnows Gibraltar in Rotterdam. They received a boost after defender Matthijs de Ligt and goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen rejoined the squad for training on Saturday.

The pair were among five players sent home after a virus swept through the squad on the eve of their trip to Paris.

There was no update on the condition of defender Sven Botman, forward Cody Gakpo or midfielder Joey Veerman, who were also suffering flu-like symptoms.

But the Dutch have lost two more players with Lutsharel Geertruida suffering a hamstring injury and centre-back Stefan de Vrij returning to Italy as his girlfriend was due to give birth. REUTERS, AFP