Having been beaten by Italy and Belgium in their opening two Nations League games, the sight of France would certainly have been a daunting one for Israel.
That sentiment was backed up inside the opening 10 minutes when France took the lead, although there was a touch of fortune to it.
Eduardo Camavinga’s strike from the edge of the area looked routine for Omri Glazer to deal with, but somehow he made a hash of it, fumbling the effort up and over his dive and into the back of the net.
Most would’ve written Israel off at that point, but in the neutral territory of Hungary, the ‘hosts’ hit back against all odds when Oscar Gloukh’s wicked delivery was headed home by Omri Gandelman - his first-ever international goal.
Perhaps Israel became too confident at that point, and they were trailing again just five minutes later. The in-form Christopher Nkunku did all the work himself, squirming away from the Israel defence before squeezing an effort beneath the onrushing Glazer.
Israel boss Ran Ben Shimon had seen enough by the hour mark and turned to his bench, making a double change in an attempt to stem the French flow.
Stemming the flow was one thing, but working a way back into the game was a completely different proposition for the League A debutants.
Their only shot of the entire game had resulted in their equaliser by the time the 80th minute hit, and in truth, they never really looked like threatening the French goal all night.
The result was assured shortly before the end of regulation time, when Theo Hernández teed up Mattéo Guendouzi on the edge of the area.
There was yet more misery for Israelis though, who conceded a fourth in the dying moments when Bradley Barcola found the top corner to consign Israel to a third successive League A defeat and leave them staring down the barrel of an instant return to the second tier.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Eduardo Camavinga (France)
