France overturned Belgium's lead with four goals from substitutes in the final quarter of an hour to win 4-1 at the Stade de France. Désiré Doué equalised in the 77th minute, Rayan Cherki put the hosts ahead four minutes later and Michael Olise scored twice to complete a result that had looked remote for much of the evening.
Dodi Lukébakio's first-half goal had given Belgium something to defend. France's response came through the players Zinédine Zidane introduced after the interval, rather than through a quick correction from his starting attack. Every French scorer began on the bench. The sequence made the difference between another frustrating home result and a convincing finish to the opening international window.
The final margin deserves care. France won by three, but they were still behind with fewer than 15 minutes of normal time remaining. A reader seeing only the score would miss the difficulty of the task and the importance of the substitutions that solved it.
Belgium make France chase the match
Lukébakio struck in the 35th minute after Roméo Lavia found him with a forward pass. The Belgian attacker broke through to beat Guillaume Restes and leave the visitors ahead at half-time. Restes had started in goal for a French side whose front line included Ousmane Dembélé, Esteban Lepaul and Bradley Barcola.
Belgium did not need to trade attacks after taking the lead. The burden was on France to find a route through, and the interval arrived without an equaliser. That shaped the problem Zidane faced: he needed more than fresh legs. He needed players who could turn possession around the penalty area into decisive chances.
The official team sheets show the depth available to him. Olise, Cherki and Doué were all among the replacements. Leaving that much creative talent outside the starting side meant France could change the character of their attack during the game, although it also meant the original selection had to carry the opening hour.
This is the useful distinction when assessing rotation. A strong bench gives a manager options; it does not automatically make the starting combination effective. Belgium's lead forced those options into use and gave the match a clear before-and-after point.
Three arrivals change the finish
Olise and Cherki entered in the 60th minute. Doué followed in the 72nd. Within five minutes of his introduction, Doué had brought France level. The equaliser was followed by Cherki's winner in the 81st minute, turning a one-goal deficit into a one-goal advantage in four minutes.
That rapid change was the central event of the evening. Belgium had protected their position for most of the match, but once France equalised, the visitors had to reconsider how much risk to take. The second goal arrived before they could restore the same control over the scoreline.
Olise then supplied the finish that made the result look emphatic. He scored in the 88th minute and again in added time. UEFA's account records four French goals across 14 minutes, a compact burst that transformed both the result and the impression of the performance.
The attacking roles also overlapped. The French federation credits Olise with the pass for Cherki's goal and Doué with the assists for both of Olise's finishes. These were substitutes combining with one another, rather than three isolated individual contributions. Their ability to create as well as finish gave Belgium several threats to manage at once.
For more on why the quality of openings matters more than a raw shot count, BetOwl's expected goals guide explains the difference between pressure and a clear scoring opportunity. This match offered a simpler, observable lesson: the decisive attacking actions arrived after the personnel changed.
A scoreline with two different stories
The comeback rewards Zidane's intervention, but it should not erase the first 76 minutes. France had to recover from a position that Belgium had earned. The final result contains both the difficulty of the initial attacking performance and the effectiveness of the replacements.
That matters when judging the next selection. Olise, Cherki and Doué have strengthened their case for greater involvement, yet the game alone cannot prove which combination should start every future match. A substitute enters against opponents who have already spent an hour defending and responding to a different set of movements. The same player may face a different task from kick-off.
Nor does the late collapse make Belgium's earlier work meaningless. Their lead survived beyond the hour, and France needed a substantial change to reverse it. The concern for Belgium is how quickly the game escaped once parity returned. Conceding the second goal soon after the first removed the advantage of the approach that had served them for so long.
BetOwl's Football coverage follows those distinctions across current matches. Results show what happened; the timing of goals and the decisions around them help explain how it happened. Both are needed before drawing a wider conclusion about a team.
Zidane finishes the window unbeaten
UEFA confirms that France remain unbeaten in Group A1. This was their second win over Belgium in the opening four fixtures, following the narrow away victory a week earlier. The home draw against Italy had interrupted the winning sequence, but the late surge restored momentum before the players return to club duty.
The strongest evidence from Monday is specific. France could call on three attacking replacements who all scored, and those players also helped create one another's goals. That is a valuable resource for a manager navigating an extended international window and balancing minutes across a talented squad.
The next challenge is to make that attacking fluency available earlier. Winning from behind demonstrates resilience and adaptability. Repeatedly needing a rescue would create a different problem. This time the response was decisive enough to turn a difficult evening into a clear victory, with Cherki's goal providing the turning point and Olise ensuring Belgium had no route back.
More current reports are available in News. Anyone considering a bet should keep the two phases of this match in view and avoid treating a 4-1 score as proof that the next contest will be straightforward. Team selection, opposition and the timing of changes can alter the pattern. Betting is for adults aged 18 and over. Set limits, avoid chasing losses and never stake money needed for essential spending.