Belgium 1-2 France
Goals: Kolo Muani 35′ penalty (F), Openda 45+3 (B), Kolo Muani 62′
Leandro Trossard had the chance to end Belgium’s five-game losing streak stretching nearly ten years against France in the 92nd minute.
Yet the Arsenal star had the audacity to try and lob someone like Mike Maignan, who is widely regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world right now, instead of putting his laces through it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he also rammed a long-ranger over as Belgium were looking to nick a late leveller. And that instead of playing the ball to better-positioned teammates in and around the crowded box.
Trossard served early notice of his wastefulness when he was also denied by Maignan 18 minutes in. Breaking clear into space, all he had to do was chip France’s goalkeeper who was way off his line. But here he went for power when he shouldn’t have, allowing the Milan goalkeeper to do as little as show him his fists to keep him at bay.
To add insult to injury Loïs Openda saw a potential last-gasp leveller cannon off the post from Jeremy Doku’s excellent low centre towards the near-post. The Man City winger ran the show and was Capital Football’s Man of the Match alongside France dynamite Manu Koné.
So how did it all unfold and what lessons have we learned? Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans sent a penalty over after Loïs Openda was brought down by William Saliba. It definitely wasn’t the Arsenal duo’s night as the centre-back was sloppy and appeared rattled by Charles de Ketelaere’s artistry and Jeremy Doku’s change of pace and accelerations throughout.
Kolo Muani showed Tielemans how it’s done when he sent Koen Casteels the wrong way from 12 yards out before restoring the lead with a bullet header to erase Openda’s glancing header from Fulham’s Timothy Castsgne accurate delivery.
Aurelien Tchouameni was then sent off for a challenge on Tielemans through on goal, picking up a second yellow late on.
Yet while France can take heart from the hard-fought victory and Belgium from the spirited performance, Gunners fans will be left with more questions than answers after the pair’s joint-horror show in Brussels.
Despite his brilliant sucker punch which helped peg Italy back in Rome last week, tonight the winger’s end product let him down. As for Saliba, to quote some French reporters after the game, he looked like the player who Didier Deschamps called out a year ago. Erratic and error-prone and back to square one with l’équipe tricolore.
