Well, no one will be more surprised than the Belgium contingent at how this game completely turned away from them. With 76 minutes played it was 1-0 but then France scored four times in the final 14 minutes to win 4-1.
Dodi Lukebakio had put Belgium ahead shortly before half-time, leaving France facing the prospect of a first competitive defeat by their close neighbours in 45 years. Instead, a late surge from the hosts after Desire Doue, Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki came on turned the game on its head in a dizzying manner.
The victory leaves France three points clear of Italy in Nations League Group A1, after the latter beat Turkey 3-1 in Bologna. Belgium remain a further point behind after suffering their second defeat in the group.
France had made 10 changes from the side that won 1-0 in Brussels last week, with only Ousmane Dembele retaining his place. Leny Yoro and Guillaume Restes made their international debuts, while Dembele captained the side with Kylian Mbappe injured.
Belgium started brightly and Romelu Lukaku tested Restes, before Nicolas Raskin headed narrowly over from Lukebakio’s cross. France gradually assumed control but could not find a way through.
Esteban Lepaul failed to connect cleanly from inside the box and his shot flew high and wide, after Dembele had driven in from the right. Cherki also tested Maarten Vandevoordt, the Belgium goalkeeper making his debut.
Belgium then struck in the 34th minute. Romeo Lavia scythed France apart with a superb ball through the French defence, Lukebakio slipping through the high back line to punish the hosts with a clinical high finish.
France ramped up the pressure after the break. Manu Kone had an effort blocked and Dembele narrowly missed the far post, but Zidane decided changes were needed and introduced Cherki and Olise just after the hour.
The substitutes immediately added more threat. Olise went close with his first opportunity and Vandevoordt then produced an excellent fingertip save to deny Cherki, while Bradley Barcola saw a shot deflected wide.
A frustrated Zidane brought on Doue with 72 minutes played, and the genius Parisian, surely now one of the best forwards alive, proved to be the architect of the turnaround. He collected the ball with his back to goal on the edge of the penalty area, effected an impossibly sweet turn away from his marker, and drove the ball low with his left foot into the far corner.
Things darkened for Belgium four minutes later when the Olise scorched down the right to the byline and pulled back for Cherki, whose effort Vandevoordt should have stopped but did not.
Then with two minutes remaining Olise plotted his way through the Belgium defence and held off Raskin before firing across Vandevoordt and into the net. Then Doue had another moment, cutting in from the left and sending a pass through to Olise, who ran in behind and rolled the ball between Vandevoordt’s legs to heap misery on Belgium.
