Olise, off the bench, wrecks Belgium in 14 minutes

Dodi Lukébakio had Belgium in front and looking the tidier side for long spells, the kind of lead that usually survives a trip to France even on an off day. It didn't survive this one. Once Olise entered the game, the whole thing tilted, and France ran off four goals in a 14-minute spell that left Belgium chasing shadows and the home crowd in full voice.

That sequence is the story. A one-goal deficit became a three-goal lead before Belgium's bench had time to process what was happening, and Olise was at the centre of it, picking out runs and forcing the kind of chaos that turns a tight match into a rout. It's the sort of cameo that changes how a manager uses a player going forward: not a starter who needed a rest, but a weapon held back on purpose.

A first home win for Zidane

The 4-1 scoreline gave Zidane his first victory on home soil since taking charge of France, which matters more for the manner of it than the mere fact. A team that concedes first, looks second-best for an hour and then dismantles a European rival in a quarter of an hour either has serious depth or serious belief, and on this evidence it has both.

Olise has built a reputation at Bayern Munich and with France as exactly this kind of player: someone who can come off the bench and change a match inside minutes rather than needing half a half to find his feet. Zidane trusted that reputation by sending him on with Belgium still ahead, and the response settled the game before it had to go the other way.

Belgium left with questions

For Belgium, the collapse raises the obvious question: how does a side that scores through Lukébakio and controls large stretches of the first hour concede four in 14 minutes? There's no easy answer in the scoreline alone, only the uncomfortable fact that France's bench won the game their starting XI hadn't.

None of that changes the Nations League table much on its own, but it changes the conversation. Zidane has his first home win. Olise has another reason to start more often than he comes off the bench. And Belgium have a flight home to think about exactly where those 14 minutes went.