Olise's double sparks France's comeback win over Belgium as Zidane claims first home victory

Match summary

On Monday evening at the Stade de France, hosts France fell behind in their UEFA Nations League group match against Belgium when Dodi Lukebakio capitalised on a long pass from Romeo Lavia to score ten minutes before half-time, as reported by TNT Sports.

The second half turned in France's favour after Zinedine Zidane introduced Michael Olise, Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki from the bench. Doue levelled the score in the 77th minute with a fine strike from distance, and Cherki put France ahead four minutes later. Olise then scored his first goal of the night in the 88th minute, before adding a stoppage-time finish after combining with Doue, sealing a 4-1 win.

It was Zidane's first home victory since taking charge of France.

Context and standings

The win strengthened France's position at the top of their group. Sources differ slightly on the group's name — FotMob referred to it as Group A1 before kickoff, while Goal.com described it as Group A2 after the match, reporting France on seven points, Belgium on six, Italy on four, and Turkiye yet to register a point. Italy beat Turkiye 3-1 on the same evening (goals from Scamacca, Calafiori and Esposito), moving above Belgium into second place.

Elsewhere in the Nations League, Northern Ireland drew 0-0 with Georgia — the hosts were awarded a penalty, but Georgia goalkeeper Mamardashvili saved Isaac Price's spot-kick. Ukraine lost 0-1 to Hungary, and Romania lost 0-1 to Sweden.

Ahead of the match, Belgium coach Mark van Bommel praised the individual quality of French players such as Kylian Mbappe and Olise, but warned that Zidane needs more consistency from his squad as a whole. Van Bommel himself was without two key players, Kevin De Bruyne and Youri Tielemans, both suspended after picking up yellow cards in Belgium's win over Turkiye.

Zidane said before the game that he intended to rotate his squad to keep competition for places alive, and noted that Belgium had caused France tactical problems in their first meeting, which France won 1-0 thanks to an 88th-minute Olise goal.

France will next face Italy and Turkiye in November as they look to secure their place in the Nations League knockout stage.