France fight back to beat Belgium as Zidane celebrates first home win

France came from behind to beat Belgium 4-1 in the Nations League Group A1 at the Stade de France, giving Zinedine Zidane his first home victory as manager.

Dodi Lukebakio put Belgium ahead in the 35th minute, but France turned the match around with three goals in the final 15 minutes. Desire Doue, Rayan Cherki and Michael Olise, all substitutes at kick-off, made the difference.

The result came three days after France drew 1-1 with Italy and moved them to the top of the group on 10 points. Italy are three points behind, Belgium are four points off the leaders and Turkey remain bottom after losing all four of their matches.

“That’s football, that’s what we love. There were difficulties, but that’s part of the game, part of the kinds of matches you can have,” Zidane told TF1.

“It’s good to put things right, and that’s what we did with an extraordinary second half. We were just missing that final few metres in the first half, but then we turned the match around, it was good.”

Belgium took the lead when Romeo Lavia’s long pass released Lukebakio behind a France defence attempting to catch the visitors offside. The winger went through one-on-one with Guillaume Restes, who was making his international debut, and finished calmly.

France, playing without captain Kylian Mbappe, enjoyed most of the possession but struggled to break down Belgium’s deep defensive shape. It was the eighth successive match in which the 2018 World Cup winners had failed to score in the first half.

Olise and Cherki were introduced on the hour mark, with Doue coming on 12 minutes later. France immediately posed a greater threat.

“We played well at the end; in the first half it was difficult against their low block. After that we kept going and it was good in the end,” Olise said.

“It’s a team effort, Zidane brings ideas and we follow them. We’re going to keep going like this.”

Belgium goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt, also earning his first cap, had earlier saved attempts from Bradley Barcola, Esteban Lepaul, Olise and Cherki. He was finally beaten in the 77th minute when Doue swept a left-footed shot across him from the edge of the penalty area.

Four minutes later, Olise crossed for Cherki to put France ahead. Olise then added two close-range goals within three minutes, one just before and one during stoppage time, to complete a decisive victory.

In the other Group A1 match, Italy beat Turkey 3-1. Gianluca Scamacca opened the scoring with a close-range volley which struck the crossbar before crossing the line.

Aral Simsir equalised at the far post after a flowing Turkey move, but Riccardo Calafiori restored Italy’s lead three minutes later with a header from a Nicolo Barella free-kick. Pio Esposito completed the scoring after Issa Doumbia and Alessandro Romano had both failed to finish.

“Even though we had made a lot of changes, there was fatigue all around and we struggled a bit,” Roberto Mancini told RAI.

“But we did well to score, and then to score again right after they equalised.”