Belgium 2-3 France: World Champions France stun Belgium with stunning comeback

 

On Thursday night, France proved why they are the reigning World Champions as they made a stunning comeback from 2-0 down at half-time to beat Belgium 3-2 in Turin to set up a mouth watering clash with Spain in the UEFA Nations League Final.

Belgium, currently ranked number one in FIFA rankings, looked to be a heading towards the final when they went 2-0 up inside the first half time with two quick goals in three minutes.

Yannick Carrasco opened the scoring in the 37th minute after his low shot went through the legs of Benjamin Pavard, leaving Hugo Lloris wrongfooted in the France goal.

Three minutes later, Kevin De Bruyne registered his second assist of the match as he played a simple pass to Romelu Lukaku, who dropped his shoulder to escape his marker and beated Lloris at his near post with a wonderful strike to make it 2-0.

France started off the second half strong and got their reward as Karim Benzema's individual brillance brought them back in the game in the 62nd minute. The Real Madrid captain received the ball from Kylian Mbappe and tiptoed his way into the space and thrashed the ball into the corner.

Minutes later Antoine Griezmann was brought down in the box by Youri Tielemans. Referee Daniel Siebert saw the footage himself on advice by VAR and awarded a penalty to France.

Kylian Mbappe took it and scored in the 69th minute to level it up at 2-2. The striker had missed a crucial penalty in the shootout against Switzerland in the Round of 16 in EURO 2020. This would certainly redeem that miss.

Belgium had a late goal disallowed by VAR for offside. Romelu Lukaku thought he had won it for his country when he turned in Yannick Carrasco cross in the 87th minute. The replays showed he was slightly offside.

It turned out to be big but correct call as Theo Hernandez completed the comeback in the 90th minute after a quick fire counter attack saw him race into the box and went for the shot instead of passing to Benzema. It was a correct decision as his effort was too powerful to handle for Thibaut Courtois.