Two minutes from time at the King Baudouin Stadium, Michael Olise took a pass on his shoulder, dropped it at his feet and set off from inside his own half. By the time he reached the edge of the Belgian box, he had shaken off a defender, and his curling low shot beat Senne Lammens into the bottom-left corner.
On the touchline, Zinedine Zidane lost it. He sprinted along the line screaming, then booted a loose ball out of his path. Olise had been on the pitch for 11 minutes, sent on in the 77th minute for Bradley Barcola.
The win in Brussels on Monday was Zidane’s second in two matches as France coach, after a 1-0 victory in Türkiye on Friday. It puts France top of Nations League Group A1 on six points, three clear of Belgium and Italy, who beat Türkiye 4-1 on the same evening.
‘A pure talent’
Zidane could not hide his delight in Olise afterwards.
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“He is a pure talent and he loves to just play. You can see it. He feels the game.”
He was as generous about the collective effort.
“We were really good in every department. Against a really good Belgium side… we held out, we played really well, and we were brave.”
Nine changes and no Mbappé
Zidane had made nine changes from the side that beat Türkiye, retaining only goalkeeper Mike Maignan and defender Maxence Lacroix. Captain Kylian Mbappé missed the trip to Brussels with a left knee injury sustained while scoring the winner against Türkiye.
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For most of the night, France dominated without scoring. Désiré Doué struck the crossbar in the first half and debutant Lucas Da Cunha, of Como, hit the post early in the second. At the other end, Belgium’s Dodi Lukébakio was denied twice by Maignan, and Belgium’s six-match home unbeaten run ended when Olise’s shot dropped in.
France head back to the Stade de France to face Italy on Friday, before hosting Belgium in Paris the following Monday.
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