France bounced back from their disappointing 3-1 opening round loss to Italy in Paris as they beat neighbours Belgium in Lyon. This was Les Bleus’ fourth consecutive win over Belgium- they had also eliminated Domenico Tedesco’s team from Euro 2024 earlier this year.
Les Bleus boss Didier Deschamps made changes galore, with only three players retained from the Italy game- goalkeeper Mike Maignan, centre-back William Saliba and medio N’Golo Kante. Kylian Mbappe was benched as the hosts opted to start with the attacking trio of Ousmane Dembele, Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani.
Kolo Muani opened the scoring in the 29th minute, smashing home from close range after Belgian keeper Koen Casteels had parried Dembele’s initial effort into his path.
Dembele sealed victory with a stunning individual effort just before the hour mark, lashing a left footed strike past Casteels.
Mbappe had two decent chances off the bench, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Belgium didn’t really threaten Maignan in the French goal, and the hosts nearly had thrice as many shots in the game as Les Diables Rouges did.
France will now take on Israel next month while Belgium’s next fixture will be against group leaders Italy.
