France rally 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, with substitutes Desire Doue, Rayan Cherki and Michael Olise transforming the game in the final 15 minutes.

The result gave Zinedine Zidane his first home victory as France manager, three days after a 1-1 draw with Italy. Italy also won on Monday, beating Turkey 3-1 to extend their unbeaten run to three matches.

Dodi Lukebakio put Belgium ahead in the 35th minute after breaking through a France defence attempting to play offside. He ran on to Romeo Lavia’s long pass and beat debutant goalkeeper Guillaume Restes in a one-on-one.

France, without captain Kylian Mbappe, dominated possession but struggled to break down Belgium’s deep defensive formation. The 2018 World Cup winners had now gone eight consecutive matches without scoring in the first half.

Olise and Cherki were introduced shortly after the hour mark, while Doue came on 12 minutes later. France immediately posed a greater threat and eventually overturned the deficit.

Doue equalised in the 77th minute with a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area, struck across goal. Four minutes later, Olise crossed for Cherki to put France ahead.

Olise then scored twice from close range in a three-minute spell, completing his brace just before and during stoppage time to secure a convincing victory.

Belgium goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt, also making his first appearance for his country, had earlier kept out attempts from Bradley Barcola, Esteban Lepaul, Olise and Cherki. He was unable to prevent Doue’s equaliser.

“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.”

Olise said France had found it difficult to play against Belgium’s low block before improving after the break.

“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,” he told TF1.

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

Italy took the points against Turkey through goals from Gianluca Scamacca, Riccardo Calafiori and Pio Esposito. Aral Simsir had levelled shortly after the hour mark.

Scamacca opened the scoring with a close-range volley which struck the crossbar before crossing the line. Simsir equalised at the far post after a flowing Turkey move, but Calafiori restored Italy’s advantage three minutes later with a header from Nicolo Barella’s free-kick.

Esposito added the third after Issa Doumbia and Alessandro Romano had both failed to convert their opportunities.

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

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

France lead the group on 10 points, three ahead of Italy and four clear of Belgium. Turkey are bottom after losing all four of their matches.