Super-subs help France demolish Belgium with late flurry

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkFrance's Desire Doue celebrates scoring their first goal with Michael Olise [Benoit Tessier/Reuters]By ReutersPublished On 5 Oct 20265 Oct 2026France came from a goal down to beat Belgium 4-1 in their Nations League Group A1 meeting at the Stade de France on Monday.Zinedine Zidane secured his first home win in charge, three days after a 1-1 draw against Italy, thanks to his substitutes.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4FC Barcelona accused of corruption in Negreira case: All you need to knowlist 2 of 4Formula One: Verstappen clinches Bahrain GP in first win of 2026list 3 of 4Amid teen triumph and organisational chaos, Asian Games close in Japanlist 4 of 4Israel face spitting allegation as Ireland boss ‘delighted’ games are overend of listBelgium’s Dodi Lukebakio put the visitors ahead in the 35th minute, but Desire Doue, Rayan Cherki and Michael Olise, all on the bench at kickoff, turned the match on its head in the final 15 minutes.Doue levelled with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box in the 77th minute. Four minutes later, Cherki put his side in front, finishing from an Olise cross.Olise then completed a brace just before and during stoppage time, the second latching onto Doue’s slick pass after a clinical break.France’s Michael Olise celebrates scoring their third goal [Benoit Tessier/Reuters]In the same Nations League group, Italy secured a 3-1 victory over Turkiye with Gianluca Scamacca, Riccardo Calafiori and Pio Esposito scoring. Turkiye’s Aral Simsir had equalised earlier, just after the hour mark.France sit top of Group A1 with 10 points, three ahead of Italy and four clear of Belgium. Turkiye are at the bottom with four defeats from four matches.France head to Milan to face the Azzurri in their penultimate group game next month before hosting Turkiye.