England vs France smash ratings record as 23,000,000 watch Three Lions World Cup exit-Stella Akinwumi-Entertainment – Metro

Millions tuned in to watch England vs France on Saturday night (Credits: PA)

England’s World Cup Quarter Final match was watched by a peak audience of 23million as the Three Lions were defeated by France.

In Saturday’s tense quarter-final in Qatar, Gareth Southgate’s side put on a spectacular performance, equalising with France after a successful penalty from captain Harry Kane.

However, after France secured the lead with a 2-1 goal from Olivier Giroud, a second penalty from Kane proved unsuccessful, with the Tottenham Hotspur star kicking the ball above the crossbar.

After the referee blew the full-time whistle, devastated fans across the nation immediately expressed their support for the crushed England players.

The game itself drew the biggest audience of the tournament and the highest peak on any channel this year.

Across all viewing on all devices, an average audience of 20.4million viewers watched the match – with an average of close to 16m viewers [15.8m] watching the full live and exclusive coverage.

Fans were devastated by the final result (Picture: PA)

23million viewers watched France’s win (Picture: Getty Images)

ITV confirmed that the England v France match was streamed 15.3million times and Morocco’s win over Portugal, shown live earlier on Saturday, was streamed 8.2million times.

In total there were 30m streams on ITVX yesterday, which is the best ever for the Hub or ITVX.

Gary Lineker and David Beckham were among the celebrities who expressed their support for England following the match.

‘Well done France. Fine margins. England exits often produce criticism and finger pointing but they’ve been really good to watch at this #WorldCup,’ the Channel 5 presenter wrote.

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Qatar ambassador Beckham shared a string of pictures of last night’s game on Instagram and wrote: ‘Our boys will continue to grow.. It’s always the worst feeling waking up after being knocked out of a tournament but our players, Gareth the staff and all our fans can be proud of this team…

‘It takes a true leader to step up in these moments and that’s what our captain did, the next time it will be a different ending we walk away with our heads held high.’

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