Zidane and Van Bommel star in tactical duel between France and Belgium in the Nations League

The Belgium-France match was a duel of styles from the benches. Unforgettable is Zidane's elegance and his taste for handling the ball and also Van Bommel's brave play, not exempt from certain doses of verticality. Perhaps Zizou's French team appears somewhat weaker defensively than the cement that Deschamps proposed, but the intention offensively was to have a somewhat less divided squad, although he could not always achieve this against the Belgian team.

Then gunpowder is gunpowder and, despite the absence of Kylian Mbappé, France has a lot of firepower and Olisé is one of the best snipers in this new team of what was one of the biggest French stars in history.

Both winners of the first duel of this Nations, France in a tough duel against Turkey and Belgium against a lackluster Italy, it was time to elucidate first place in this group A. There is no doubt that the Red Devils continue to progress since the World Cup while Les Bleus had to adapt to a somewhat slower game than the one they played. De Bruyne perfectly embodies that resurrection and Camavinga must be a player to take into account in a French midfield more prone to touch than edge.

Regarding the attack, it will not be Lamine Yamal nor Mbappé, but there is no doubt that Desiree Doué is another of the players for whom it is worth paying a ticket. One of the leaders of this France B along with Barcolá that Zinedine Zidane has invented, the control with half a roulette and the before the howitzer to the crossbar in the 10th minute is one of the plays that only one of those two Ballon d'Or candidates signs for you. With the captain absent due to injury, in addition, it was his moment.

France had another clear chance to open the scoring before the end of the 45 minutes. In fact, Lavia had to take the ball under the sticks from a shot by Kalulu with Lammens already beaten. Also the current Liverpool winger, Bradley Barcolá, made several approaches to the Belgian goal, which were not productive. Without a doubt, except for some distant shot from De Bruyne, with the points, Les Bleus should have gone to the locker room with an advantage on the scoreboard.

They wanted to resolve the duel upon their return. With the same protagonist, the PSG winger, leading almost all the offensives. Although it was Da Cunha who broke Lammens' post with a shot from outside the area. Belgium, for its part, waited quietly for De Bruyne to launch the counterattack with De Ketalaere as his spearhead, but the Red Devils needed more speed than back-foot play, a specialty of the Atalanta forward.

french stars

Midway through the second half, Zidane began to bring out the real French artillery. Dembélé replaced a failed Lepaul and before, Van Bommel had brought on Lukebakio, scorer against Italy. In fact, the Belgian was the first to show his danger after Camavinga was lost in midfield. The counterattack was led by Vanaken, another newcomer, and Maignan responded well in the one-on-one.