France booked their place in knockout stages after defeating Guinea

Guillaume Restes, France's goalkeeper, was the first to be tested, making a crucial save from Amadou Diawara within the first 10 minutes, before France began to assert their dominance.

Jean-Philippe Mateta missed several opportunities for the home team, first sending a back-heeled shot wide from a promising position, and then heading wide moments later.

The Crystal Palace forward was then thwarted by Soumaila Sylla after breaking through on goal, leading to growing frustration among the home fans.

However, Guinea grew in confidence and had two goals disallowed for offside late in the first half, with captain Naby Keita and Abdoulaye Toure both being denied by the offside flag - remarkably, this was the third time in the tournament that the National Elephants had a goal ruled out for offside.

Guinea had another opportunity to take the lead just before half time, but Ilaix Moriba’s header was cleared off the line by Castello Lukeba during the nine minutes of stoppage time added on at the end of the first half.

The underdogs maintained their momentum into the second half, with Aliou Baldé narrowly missing a shot inside the box.

However, Thierry Henry’s team soon began to assert their dominance and could have scored against the run of play, but Michael Olise was denied his second goal in two games by Sylla.

The Bayern Munich winger then turned provider as France finally found a breakthrough, crossing for Kiliann Sildilla to head home from close range, bringing relief to the stadium.

It was not a pretty performance from Henry’s side, but they managed to secure a crucial victory in their pursuit of reaching the knockouts and ending a 40-year drought for a men’s football Olympic gold medal.

Guinea will take encouragement from their performance, but a second defeat in Group A means they are unlikely to progress.