Belgium is currently the French team’s most successful opponent behind the Faroe Islands against whom the Blues have six victories in a row. They are five against the Red Devils.
Even when it doesn’t play particularly well, the France team does well against Belgium (1-2). The Blues signed their fifth consecutive victory on Monday against the Red Devils, their best current series after that against the Faroe Islands (six victories in a row currently). Didier Deschamps’ men were however seriously manhandled in the first half, even conceding a penalty after a foul by William Saliba on Loïs Openda. But Youri Tielemans sent his shot well above the French goal (23rd).
Randal Kolo Muani then opened the scoring (0-1, 35th) before doubling the lead in the second half (1-2, 62nd) in response to Openda’s equalizer (1-1, 45th+4). The Blues held their short advantage despite the expulsion of their captain Aurélien Tchouaméni (76th). This is therefore their fifth victory in a row against the Belgian neighbor after those in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup (1-0), then the 2021 Nations League (2-3). They added three more in three months with the round of 16 of Euro 2024 (1-0) and the two Nations League group matches (2-0, 1-2).
The last Belgian success against the French dates back to June 7, 2015 during a friendly match at the Stade de France (3-4). We even have to go back to September 9, 1981 to find traces of a Belgian victory against the Blues in a high-stakes match (2-0, 1982 World Cup qualifiers). Monday’s positive result allows the French to move into second place in their group in the Nations League. And yet, Didier Deschamps didn’t like everything.
“What displeased me was everything we did for 25-30 minutes,” said the coach after the match. “I expected that, a lot of aggression from this Belgian team and we were shaken as they say. And in the second half it was better, we controlled better. I admit that the equalizer is something that we could have avoided but hey, it’s good for this group which is less experienced to go through matches like that. There will be a lot of things to correct.
Related News :