France 2-0 Belgium
Les Bleus got the better of the Red Devils in this UEFA Nations League Group A (League 2) clash held at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais.
This was a much-needed performance for Didier Deschamps’ side after a 1-3 loss to Italy, wherein they scored in the 12th second (the fastest goal in France’s national team history) when Bradley Barcola caught Giovanni Di Lorenzo napping.
Kylian Mbappe was benched for this one, but it did not matter as France turned out to be the better team with goals courtesy of Ousmane Dembele and Randal Kolo Muani.
After the loss, Belgium captain Kevin De Bruyne expressed his disappointment with the squad.
“I can’t say here what went wrong. I already did that to the team at half-time. I cannot repeat that in the media but it has to be better in every way.”
The win over the Red Devils put France ahead of Belgium and Israel, with Italy topping the group.
Highlights of the game
Despite being the underdogs on the SBOTOP UEFA Nations League 2024 odds, Belgium started out well compared to their French counterparts, with early chances from Dodi Lukebakio and Lois Openda.
Kevin De Bruyne played an accurate ball to Lukebakio in the sixth minute, with the Sevilla forward acrobatically meeting the pass but was unable to beat Mike Maignan in the near post.
Yet another chance arrived for the Belgians right after Lucas Digne and Lois Openda were booked following a clash. De Bruyne played a perfectly-timed through ball to the sprinting Lukebakio and had a chance to square it up to Openda for an easy tap-in finish. However, Lukebakio’s pass was too strong and went right past the Leipzig forward.
France’s first huge chance of the match came in the 14th minute when N’Golo Kante found Matteo Guendouzi in an open space, and the latter took a first-time shot straight into Koen Casteels.
Openda then had another chance to give the Red Devils the lead after firing a shot from Wout Faes’ pass. However, it did not have enough power and just went directly into Maignan’s path.
Guendouzi went close to putting France ahead in the 23rd minute after Jules Kounde’s cross found him running through on goal, but his first touch was a bit strong, and Casteels was able to collect it with no problems.
The breakthrough finally came in the 29th minute when Randal Kolo Muani rebounded Ousmane Dembele’s miss and hammered it past Casteels.
Dembele doubled France’s lead in the 57th minute after cutting through the right flank and rifling a shot past Casteels.
Kylian Mbappe was finally inserted into the match in the 67th minute, replacing Marcus Thuram. The Real Madrid star had a couple chances to extend the lead and produced a decent performance in the 27 minutes that he played.
Antoine Griezmann was also subbed in near the end of the match to mark his 137th cap for Les Bleus, tying Olivier Giroud for third all-time.
Belgium’s best chances in the second half were from Charles De Ketelaere and Kevin De Bruyne.
Key Statistics
Belgium were the more dominant team with the ball, albeit not by much, whilst France were more aggressive in front with 25 shots to Belgium’s nine.
In other UEFA Nations League 2024 updates, the goals scored by Dembele and Kolo Muani also marked a landmark in French football’s history, as for the fifth consecutive time (excluding own goals), France’s goalscorer has come from a Paris Saint-Germain player. The longest such run by Les Bleus since between June and August 2003.
Dembele’s stellar performance also earned him Man of the Match shouts, as he produced the most shots/shots on target (four/two), touches in the opposition box (nine) and finished with 19 passes into the final third—only Manu Kone had more with 22.
What’s next?
France will next face Israel on Matchday 3 of the Nations League on October 11, whilst a rematch with Belgium is scheduled for October 15. Their final couple of matches will be two months from now, as they face Israel on November 15 and Italy on November 18.
Meanwhile, Belgium will be locking horns with Italy next month (and on November 15). They will also hope to avenge their loss to France in order to avoid relegation from Group A (in the unlikely case their results turn out worse than Israel’s), whilst they look to complete a double over lowly Israel on November 18.
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