Saint-Denis had been level for much of the evening, but Michael Olise changed France’s Nations League meeting with Belgium in little more than half an hour. Introduced from the bench on Monday 5 October, the Bayern Munich forward supplied a goal, then two of his own, to drive Zinedine Zidane’s side to another victory.
Olise turns the match after half-time
- With France drawing 1-1, Zidane made a double change in the 60th minute. Olise replaced Ousmane Dembélé, while Ryan Cherki also entered the contest.
- Twenty-one minutes after coming on, Olise created the decisive opening. His pass found Manchester City player Cherki, whose 81st-minute finish put France ahead.
- Seven minutes later, Olise added a goal himself. He fought to retain the ball near the edge of the penalty area, won it with a sliding challenge and finished past Belgium goalkeeper Vandervoort.
- In first-half stoppage time, Désiré Doué controlled the ball before releasing Olise through the Belgian defence. The forward converted again at 90+1 to complete his two-goal cameo.
Olise registered three efforts on target in total, with two crossing the line. Belgium had conceded only once around 15 minutes before his final goal, before France’s substitutes and attacking depth reshaped the night in the northern Paris suburb.
A defining start under Zidane
The Belgian display continued a productive international window for Olise and an encouraging opening to Zidane’s tenure with France. Across the first four fixtures of the new era — against Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Belgium again — he has contributed to goals in each of the last three matches.
His earlier encounter with Belgium brought an 88th-minute goal, already making him a key figure against the neighbours. Against Italy, he scored France’s equaliser with a powerful strike into the top corner. The two finishes in Saint-Denis took his total to four goals during this call-up, leaving him as France’s leading scorer in the squad.
