At the break, the Blues are doing very well in Brussels!

The Blues are doing well at the moment! After 45 minutes, Didier Deschamps’ men are almost miraculously back to back with the Red Devils in Brussels, as part of the 4th day of the Nations League. Dominated, the Tricolores suffered pressure from the locals during the first twenty minutes. More aggressive, Arthur Theate’s partners quickly stood out, with a low shot from Youri Tielemans captured by Mike Maigan in the first minute of play. This same Tielemans was very close to switching to decisive passer mode afterwards, with a cross cut at the near post by Lois Openda. But the ex-Lensois’ recovery missed the French goal (13th).

A story of penalties

On the visitor’s side, only Bradley Barcola, with a header at the far post finishing in the Belgian net (17th), was able to send a slight shiver through the aisles of the King Baudouin stadium, close to igniting on a tumble from Leandro Trossard. But the Arsenal player, starting from midfield after stealing the ball from Ibrahima Konaté, saw his off-center strike repelled by Maignan (18th). Unable to hold the ball in midfield, the Blues, guilty of several ball losses and in great difficulty facing the liveliness of the Belgian attacking trio (Doku, Openda, Trossard), ended up being punished. Or almost. Starting behind the defense, Openda was caught then mowed down in the open area by William Saliba. After checking with VAR for a possible offside, the match referee awarded a penalty to the Red Devils. But Tielemans’ attempt, fortunately, flew into the clouds (23rd). A free warning for the vice-world champions, finally awake after around twenty apathetic and laborious minutes. Barcola, alone, notably pushed Casteels to relax with a curled shot (25th).

And after a new alert from Doku (a low strike from the edge of the area) after… yet another loss of the ball (30th), the Blues in turn obtained a penalty. Wout Faes, the former Reims defender, was guilty of an… elbow to stop Barcola in the area. Without trembling, Randal Kolo Muani converted the offering into force, taking Casteels on the wrong foot (34th, 0-1). His seventh goal in the French jersey, against an opponent who has become a favorite for the Parisian. An opening score which gave Didier Deschamps’ band some breathing space… for a few minutes. In added time of this first act, a cross from Trossard found Openda behind Saliba’s back. The Leipzig player was quick to equalize with a header (45+3, 1-1) and logically put his team back up to the Blues in white in Brussels.