France beat Belgium in Nations League

Muani and Dembele score for Le Blues in Lyon

LYON, FRANCE:

Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele scored the goals as France bounced back from a disappointing home loss to Italy at the weekend by beating Belgium 2-0 in the UEFA Nations League on Monday.

It was not a full-strength French team that took to the field for the game in Lyon, with captain Kylian Mbappe dropping out as one of eight changes made by coach Didier Deschamps.

France lost 3-1 to Italy in Paris on Friday despite taking the lead inside 13 seconds, while Belgium came into this match fresh from beating Israel by the same scoreline.

The outcome was a source of some relief for Deschamps after his side performed poorly against Italy.

"Obviously I am really happy with our reaction, and what we were able to do against a very good Belgium side who posed us problems in the first 20 minutes, maybe because we were a bit restless given the context," said the coach, whose name was jeered by some parts of the crowd when the teams were announced.

"But our performance on Friday was not the worst and I am not going to say everything is now wonderful, that everything has been fixed."

This game was a repeat of the Euro 2024 last-16 tie which France won 1-0 in Duesseldorf thanks to a late own goal during what was nevertheless a poor campaign.

Les Bleus went ahead here just before the half-hour mark, Kolo Muani applying the finish after Dembele's mishit shot was pushed out by Belgian goalkeeper Koen Casteels.

A Belgian side captained by Kevin De Bruyne could not find an equaliser and France scored again on 57 minutes thanks to a fine individual effort by Dembele.

The Paris Saint-Germain winger skipped inside from the right wing before blasting a shot into the net on his left foot.

Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Michael Olise were among the players who came off the bench for France in the second half, as they saw out a victory which will boost confidence after the defeat by Italy.

The Italians are on top of Group A2 with six points out of six after beating Israel 2-1 on Monday.

France and Belgium have three points apiece, while Israel are bottom without a point.

The next matches are in October, including Italy playing Belgium in Rome, and Israel meeting France on neutral territory in Budapest.

Italy top group

Italy continued their post-Euro 2024 recovery on Monday with a tight 2-1 Nations League win over Israel in Budapest which put the Azzurri top of Group A2.

Goals in each half from Davide Frattesi and Moise Kean were enough for Italy to win in a subdued atmosphere at the Bozsik Arena which hosted the Israel home fixture due to the security situation in the Middle East.

Luciano Spalletti's team have reacted well to their disastrous European Championship title defence, which ended at the last-16 stage, and deserved their second win in a matters of days.

Monday's victory on a soaking night in the Hungarian capital, and France beating Belgium 2-0 in Lyon, allowed Italy to take top spot in their group on a perfect six points, three ahead of both Les Bleus and the Red Devils.

The crowd of 2,000 fans meant Monday's match did not have the feel of a senior international match, with the main off-pitch event coming during Israel's national anthem ahead of kick-off, when a small group of Italy fans turned their backs to the pitch.

The Azzurri were slow starters as they were in Friday's stunning 3-1 win over France in Paris, but were not punished by Israel and grew into the match.

By the time Frattesi chested home Federico Dimarco's pinpoint cross in the 38th minute, his sixth international goal since Spalletti replaced Roberto Mancini just over a year ago, Italy were firmly on top.

Sagiv Jehezkel should have levelled for Israel just after half-time when he failed to divert Dor Peretz's scuffed shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma from close range.

But in the 62nd minute Fiorentina striker Kean scored his first Italy goal in almost exactly three years to seal the points, with Mohamed Abu Fani's strike in the final minute too late for Israel to mount a comeback.