Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
France left it late to beat Belgium 4-1 in the Nations League as Zinedine Zidane got his first home win as the national coach.
At Stade de France on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), Belgium took the lead in the 35th minute when Dodi Lukebakio sprung the offside trap to run onto a magnificent, long pass from Romeo Lavia. He raced through one-on-one with debutant Guillaume Restes and powered the ball over the France goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Desire Doue finally pulled one back for France in the 77th with a low shot into the bottom right corner, and Les Bleus got the match winner in somewhat strange fashion four minutes later.
Maarten Vandevoordt appeared set to save Rayan Cherki’s strike but the ball hit the Belgium goalie’s foot and rebounded in off his left arm.
Michael Olise set that up and added two goals in three minutes himself to seal the match.
“The first half was tough; facing a low block is always difficult,” Olise said. “But we kept going and at the end it was good.
“It’s a collective effort, too. He (Zidane) brings in ideas, we follow them. We’ve done that well over the last four matches, we’re going to continue like this.”
The win reinforce’s France’s control of Group A1, three points above Italy, who beat Turkey 3-1.
Third-placed Belgium slipped four points below France, while Turkey have no points.
In Italy, Roberto Mancini was also looking for a first home win. He started his return to the Italy bench with a loss in Rome to Belgium before morale-boosting away performances against Turkey, where the Azzurri won 4-1, and France.
Turkey were under pressure after scoring just one goal and conceding eight in their three matches. They were also missing key players but nevertheless started the brighter in Bologna.
However, Italy took the lead against the run of play in the 26th. Gianluca Scamacca attempted to knock down a cross and it bounced off a Turkey defender’s shoulder before falling kindly back to Scamacca, who volleyed it in off the underside of the crossbar.
Aral Simsir swept in a deserved equaliser for Turkey in the 61st but Italy were back in front just three minutes later when Riccardo Calafiori headed in Nicolo Barella’s free kick.
Pio Esposito sealed the win late on when he tapped in Alessandro Romano’s shot.
Elsewhere in some of the other fixtures, Sweden beat Romania 1-0, Hungary beat Ukraine 2-1, Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Poland 1-0 and Montenegro and Armenia drew 0-0.
