Despite the absence of Kylian Mbappé due to injury, France managed to defeat Belgium thanks to a brilliant late goal from Michael Olise.
Michael Olise's decisive goal secured a 1-0 victory for France over Belgium in the UEFA Nations League on Monday. This allowed Zinedine Zidane to achieve his second consecutive win since being appointed head coach.
The Bayern Munich star, Olise, who was previously one of the outstanding players at the World Cup where France reached the semi-finals, came on as a substitute late in the game in Brussels, which was goalless. He initiated the attack from his own half and scored the winning goal in the 88th minute.
Zidane, who celebrated the goal, ran down to the sideline and kicked the ball, telling the TF1 channel: 'He is a pure talent and he enjoys just playing. You can see it. He feels the game. I am happy to be next to him.'
This victory continued the success of the 1-0 away match against Turkey last Friday, which was Zidane's first match after replacing Didier Deschamps as coach following the World Cup.
Thanks to this, France took first place in Group A1 of the Nations League with six points, ahead of Belgium and Italy, who won their match 4-1 in Turkey on Monday.
In the near future, Les Bleus will host Italy at their Stade de France stadium on Friday, which will be Zidane's return home. After that, the team will play Belgium next Monday.
Zidane noted the need for rest, saying: 'We need rest now. We have traveled a lot and trained or rested little.'
He also commented on the game: 'We were really good in all aspects. We held up against a very strong Belgian team that made us suffer; we played very well and were brave. We sometimes had difficulties in the second half, but that was expected with all the changes we made. I think we dominated the game. Overall, we deserved the win, and we scored the goal at the end.'