Ousmane Dembele was the key man with his first-half hat-trick which saw France blow away a heavily rotated Norway 4-1, with the Landslaget resting Erling Haaland and captain Martin Odergaard.

Going into this final Group I battle, the fate for both Norway and France was known, with the sides knowing that they would be guaranteed to be in the knockouts, with the winners being able to bag top spot in the group.

It felt like it would've been a very interesting affair with Norway possessing some real attacking flair, but when the teams came out, the Norwegians didn't seem too bothered about getting first in the group. Ten changes were made from their imperative 3-2 win over Senegal, seeing Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard dropped. France made four changes, but were only strengthening their side by bringing players like Desire Doue.

Norway's heavy rotation on their side was apparent only twenty seconds in as the French captain Kylian Mbappe snuck in behind with his finish crashing off the underside of the bar, just staying out. An early scare for Norway.

The scare became a reality not long after when Mbappe was able to spray the ball to the far left, and after some fakes and stepovers, Ousmane Dembele fired a right-footed effort, curling past Tommy Selvik, giving Les Blues the lead.

Landslaget were given a golden chance to equalise when Jorgen Strand Larsen made himself a one v one against Mike Maignan but blazed his effort well over the bar, and Norway were to pay for that mistake.

Six minutes later, Mbappe was dragged down by Leo Ostigard, earning himself a yellow card, but smart refereeing by Michael Oliver was shown as he played advantage, letting Mbappe pull it to Dembele, who took it on his left foot this time, curling his effort into the bottom left corner, doubling Les Blues' lead.

The game was thought to have been almost done after France doubled their lead, but Thelo Aasgaard gave Landslaget a lifeline with a magic fake sending Dayot Upamecano and placing the ball past Maignan to halve the deficit.

The two-goal lead was quick to be reinstated, however, when some lackadaisical defending by Norway gave Dembele the room he was after, and with his confidence, he was able to bend another goal into the bottom left, getting the second-earliest World Cup hat-trick of all time.

After the half-time break, Norway came out full of confidence, with France almost treating the game as an exhibition, and they were quickly made to pay. Some clever feet by Oscar Bobb led to him getting tripped by Theo Hernandez, giving Michael Oliver his easiest decision of the day, pointing to the spot. But a stuttering Strand Larsen never looked confident, and his very tame penalty was very comfortably saved by Mike Maignan, looking to have killed Landslaget's hopes of a comeback

The second half was a slow affair with both sides accepting the result, but two minutes before the end, it was Desire Doue redirecting a pinpoint Barcola cross with the PSG duo linking up to make it four.

That was a display of a player who is clear Ballon d'Or winner from Ousmane Dembele, every time he got the ball, especially in the first half, and you could truly tell he had a willingness to score every time he got the ball at his feet.

France have really came in flourishes in each match, it was the first half today, but against Senegal and Iraq where it took Les Blues until the second half to truly get going.

Despite his two assists, Kylian Mbappe will be frustrated that he wasn't able to get that eighteenth World Cup goal as he tries to overtake Lionel Messi's newly achieved record. You could see that as the game went on, he was really wanting to score, taking his chances from some difficult areas.

Les Blues did play the right team and the right time tonight, though, with this heavily rotated side nowhere near the quality they would have been expecting to play. But, unsurprisingly, it will be France to top the group with the maximum nine points.

It felt like Norway were more than okay finishing second when the team came out, but the decision does make more sense when you dive into the thought process.

Even with Norway's strongest team, they would have been heavy underdogs against the tournament favourites, and it would've been a tough turnaround with second place in this group having to play in only four days' time, which would have seen some of Norway's finest physically drained.

The players who did play were average at best; there were bright flashes by Thelo Aasgaard and Oscar Bobb, but probably not enough to get their way into Stale Solbakken's plans for their round of 32 encounter.

Strand Larsen will know he missed a great opportunity to try and force his way into the side, missing a penalty and a clear-cut chance. Which could have given Norway the ability to at least get a point from this game.

With Group I being all done now, it leaves Les Blues sitting top with nine points in their three games, with Norway sitting on six, with them knowing they did the hard work after winning their first two games.

As it stands, France will be playing Sweden in only four days, so Les Blues depth may be tested shortly

And for Norway, they are set to face off against a strong Ivory Coast side, in four days as well, hence the heavy rotation