France overtook Germany in their 2020 European Championship win, whose scoreline stunned Didier Deschamps's team's dominance in their Group F match in Munich on Tuesday.
The star-studded match between defending World Cup champions France and Germany was briefly delayed when an apparent Greenpeace protester parachuted into the stadium before the game and was immediately taken into custody by security.
France took the lead at the 20-minute mark when Germany's Mats Hummels redirected a ball from Theo Hernandez into his own net that keeper Manuel Neuer had no chance of keeping out.
After the match, Deschamps said: "We played a great game against very good opponents. I knew my players would be ready and we were ready to fight.
"We weren't too far from scoring the second goal that would have made us safe, but we didn't suffer that much in the second half. It was a strong match with quality and talent."
Karim Benzema, making his first appearance for France since the 2014 World Cup, played in the field at the start of the second half by Adrian Rabiot, but a Juventus midfielder's shot pushed Germany out of the post for lack of a goal. gave.
France had doubled the lead through Kylian Mbappe as the second half progressed, but the Paris Saint-Germain striker was waved to offside after a fine lead.
Another brilliant France goal once again postponed the match, but Mbappe was called offside for the second time in the night when he squared off for a close-range finish on a counter-attack to Benzema.
Joachim Low's Germany, who had never lost their first match at the Euros, struggled to find a draw, but none came as France finished second in their group behind Portugal on goal difference to collect all three points. Saw the result to end the day. .
The German, desperate to impress in front of the home crowd for his shock 2018 World Cup first-round exit, rarely broke through France's rearguard.
The German coach said, "We tried to play with the wings. We knew they were crowded in the middle and were face-to-face. So we had to work with the cross."
"Robin Gossens and Joshua Kimmich put a lot of work into the attack and we had that opportunity with Serge Gnabry as well."
Meanwhile, the pairing of N'Golo Kante and Paul Pogba did a great job for France, with Les Blaes never losing a match - 15 wins and four draws - when the two were together in the starting lineup.
UEFA weighed in on the parachuting pitch invader after the match, saying that "several people" are being treated in hospital for injuries caused by falling debris, the European governing body said. It is called "reckless and dangerous" act, "law officers will take necessary action".
France's next match is against Hungary on Saturday, while Germany will play Portugal in another juicy Group F match on the same day.
"It was a brutally intense game and we fought to the end," Low said postmatch. "One of my goals fixed it. I can't blame the team because we struggled a lot. We probably lacked the punching power in and around the box.
"Tomorrow we have to process things but look ahead. We lost, we're disappointed, but we still have two games to go and we can fix that."