France vs Belgium prediction: can the Belgians get their revenge?
France and Belgium will meet again in the Nations League on October 5, with this being their second clash in just a week. This time, the teams will face off at the Stade de France, giving Belgium a chance to avenge their painful defeat in Brussels. In that encounter, France snatched a 1-0 win thanks to Michael Olise's late goal.
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France made an extremely confident start to the tournament under Zinedine Zidane. In the opening round, Les Bleus beat Turkey 1-0 before edging Belgium in a hard-fought contest. However, their most recent match against Italy ended in a 1-1 draw. Olise once again emerged as France's main hero, opening the scoring with a stunning free-kick, but Italy responded through Alessandro Bastoni. France also had to finish the match with ten men after Dayot Upamecano was sent off.
Belgium, meanwhile, quickly bounced back from their defeat by France. Mark van Bommel's side thrashed Turkey 3-0. Kevin De Bruyne scored twice, while Romelu Lukaku netted the third goal to take his international tally to 94.
But this is exactly where a serious problem emerges for Belgium. De Bruyne and Youri Tielemans have both picked up their second yellow cards of the tournament and will miss the match against France through suspension.
The loss of two key midfielders at once will surely force van Bommel to make significant changes in the center of the pitch.
France will also be without Kylian Mbappe. The captain suffered an injury in the opening game against Turkey and did not feature in the match with Belgium in Brussels. Olise, however, has already shown that he can take responsibility: he secured France's win in the first meeting between the teams and also scored against Italy.
As a result, the return fixture promises to be completely different from the clash in Brussels. France will be playing at home and, after drawing with Italy, will surely be eager to taste victory again. Belgium will arrive in high spirits after their rout of Turkey, but without De Bruyne and Tielemans. The stakes are high as well: after three rounds, France remain top of Group A1, with Belgium right behind them.
My prediction: both teams to score – yes.
