On the back of their 4-1 away win against Israel last Friday, France faced their Belgian neighbors in Brussels to maintain pressure on UEFA Nations League A2 group leader Italy.
Les Bleus started on the back foot with Belgium enjoying plenty of freedom in building from the back and Jérémy Doku making differences on the right flank. France were rightly penalized with William Saliba playing Loïs Openda onside and clumsily taking out the RB Leipzig man in his penalty box. Youri Tielemans stepped up and skied his spot-kick. A lift-off for France and an opportunity to make the hosts pay arose.
Following a bout of pressure, Wout Faes handled the ball in trying to shield it from Bradley Barcola. The referee pointed to the spot. Randal Kolo Muani, who was nowhere to be found in the first half-hour, kept a cool head to thwart Koen Casteels. France were heading into half-time with an undeserved lead, but their defensive shortcomings returned to haunt them. Saliba, at fault again, allowed Openda a free header from Timothy Castagne’s cross.
In the second half, France upped the ante and Manu Koné thought he had scored his debut goal with a well-taken near-post finish. But his effort was chalked off with Kolo Muani handling the ball. The PSG centre-forward made amends for it in restoring France’s lead in heading home Lucas Digne’s cross. France weathered a late Belgium push with a player shy considering Aurélien Tchouaméni was given his marching orders.
In the end, France held on to three points in their neighbors’ backyard with the crowd aiming their displeasure at Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco. France will only need one point from two games, against Israel and Italy, to book their ticket for next March’s Nations League quarter-finals.
France players ratings
Mike Maignan, 7
Jules Koundé, 6
Ibrahima Konaté, 6
William Saliba, 3
A catastrophic first half from the Arsenal centre-back. Penalized for taking out Openda in his penalty box, he didn’t learn from his mistakes in playing the Leipzig centre-forward onside for his equalizing goal. Still shaky in the second half.
Lucas Digne, 5
Manu Koné, 5
Mattéo Guendouzi, 6
An energetic midfield shift from the Lazio Rome player, who kicked on following his remarkable cameo from the bench against Israel.
Aurélien Tchouaméni, 4
The skipper was the less influential France midfielder of the night and he took one for the team in preventing Youri Tielemans from a one-on-one with Maignan, letting his teammates one player shy in the final 15 minutes.
Ousmane Dembélé, 4
Randal Kolo Muani, 7
The centre-forward is as wasteful for PSG as he is clinical for France. He kept a cool head to dispatch a spot-kick for his first goalscoring opportunity and restored France’s lead with a confident header. No France player scored more goals this year than him.
Bradley Barcola, 6
GFFN | Bastien Cheval
