Florent Malouda was back in starting action for a France side that won their latest friendly international thanks to a penalty won by Nicolas Anelka.

It was a far better evening for Les Bleus in Lyon than their home defeat to Nigeria on Tuesday in which Anelka played the first half but Malouda stayed on the bench.

The Chelsea left winger has been out of favour for his country in recent months but his excellent end to the season in England was followed by a recall in the stadium where he built his reputation.

His right-footed shot almost gave his nation the lead against Turkey within two minutes but went wide. Then Anelka missed a chance before he was hauled down five minutes before the interval to earn his assailant a red card and Kazim Benzema the chance to give France the lead from the spot; a chance taken.

Volkan Demirel, the keeper who played against Chelsea for Fenerbahçe last season then denied Anelka twice from shots from outside the area before both Chelsea players were withdrawn in the 59th minute.

France, currently second in their World Cup group, are without qualifiers in the June round of fixtures.

Petr Cech was rested from Czech Republic's 1-0 home friendly win over Malta, his place shared for a half apiece by Teplice's Tomas Grigar and Zdenek Zlamal of Slovan Liberec.

The Czech team, who are struggling in fourth place in their group, are next in World Cup qualification action in September.

In junior international football, Netherlands Under 19s may not have been satisfied with their 0-0 draw with Belarus in a European Championship qualification tournament in Slovenia but it was no disaster for Chelsea reserve team regulars Patrick van Aanholt and Jeffrey Bruma. They made up 50 per cent of the Dutch defence.

Chelsea midfielder Conor Clifford played the whole of Republic of Ireland's 1-0 defeat away to Belgium in a similar Under 19s qualification tournament.