Olise's late strike sinks Belgium as Zidane wins again

Michael Olise settled a goalless contest in Brussels with a strike from inside his own half, curling the ball beyond Senne Lammens in the 88th minute to give France a 1-0 win over Belgium and Zinedine Zidane two wins out of two since taking charge.

Olise had been on the pitch only 11 minutes, sent on for Bradley Barcola in the 77th, when he picked the ball up around the halfway line, drove at the Belgium defence and kept going to the edge of the area before bending a shot into the far corner.

France were without Kylian Mbappé, who returned to Real Madrid after injuring his left knee scoring the winner against Turkey on Friday — the match that gave Zidane his first win in the job. Even without him, the visitors had the better of the chances in Brussels: Désiré Doué struck the bar in the first half and debutant Lucas Da Cunha hit a post early in the second, before Olise settled it.

The French federation has had a turbulent month off the pitch, too, withdrawing its backing for Gianni Infantino's re-election bid earlier in September over FIFA governance failures. On it, Zidane's side now sit top of Group A1 on six points and travel to host Italy at the Stade de France on Friday, while Belgium go to Liège to face Turkey.

Italy put four past Turkey

Italy answered their opening 2-0 defeat to Belgium in Rome by putting four goals past Turkey in Bursa, three of them inside the first half-hour on a rainy night that did no favours to the home defence.

Bursa-born full-back Zeki Celik swung wildly at a low near-post corner and turned the ball into the path of Alessandro Bastoni, who fired into the roof of the net. Altay Bayindir then flapped at a cross-shot from Michael Kayode and presented Lazio's Davide Frattesi with a tap-in. Four minutes later Kayode himself found space on the right of the box and beat Bayindir at the near post.

Roberto Mancini's side conceded once in reply. At the other end, Gianluigi Donnarumma — Italy's goalkeeper since long before his September 2025 move from Paris Saint-Germain to Manchester City, where he kept a clean sheet away at Porto this month — had a rare quiet night behind a defence protected for long spells by Tottenham's Sandro Tonali in midfield.

That result leaves Italy on three points in Group A1, level with Belgium, whose own month included selling forward Fernandez-Pardo to Newcastle for £51.4m. Turkey remain without a point after two matches.

Friday's fixture at the Stade de France pits the only side on six points in the group against an Italy team level with Belgium on three — a result there would go a long way to shaping who follows France out of Group A1.