France Ignite the Final Quarter-Hour to Crush Belgium in Saint-Denis

Olise strikes twice, Cherki and Doué complete the storm… and Zidane's unbeaten run rolls on

Dr. Talal Othman, General Manager — GCC Sport

Some matches are decided over ninety minutes; others are settled in a single quarter of an hour that distils the entire gap between a team blessed with talent and a team blessed with patience. At the Stade de France, in Matchday 4 of the UEFA Nations League (League A, Group 1), France waited until the 77th minute to unleash the storm, and did not let up until Belgium were buried under a punishing four goals to one.

Long Patience… Then the Explosion

For more than seventy minutes, the Parisian night looked like an extension of the first leg in Brussels a week earlier, when Les Bleus needed a late goal to scrape a narrow win. Mark van Bommel's Belgium arrived with clear discipline, shutting down the space on France's flanks, but that discipline was a dam concealing its own cracks.

The dam burst in the 77th minute when Désiré Doué opened the scoring. Having struck the crossbar in Brussels, his goal felt like the settling of an overdue account with the Belgian net. Just four minutes later, Rayan Cherki added the second in the 81st minute, turning an advantage into total control.

Olise… The Man of Both Legs

If Doué opened the door, it was Michael Olise who slammed it shut on Belgium. The Bayern Munich forward, scorer of the only goal in the first leg, struck twice more: first in the 88th minute, then again in stoppage time (90+1). Three goals against Belgium in a single week, all in the dying minutes, say a great deal about a player who has evolved from a bench option into an irresistible finishing weapon.

What France produced tonight was not merely a lopsided victory but a declaration of the new identity Zinedine Zidane is shaping: a side that does not rush, that drains its opponent physically and mentally, then strikes when legs tire and the pitch opens up. All four goals came in the final fifteen minutes, a statistic that cannot be read as coincidence, but as the product of bench depth any national team in the world would envy.

Belgium, for their part, showed that their current generation can still hold firm, just not until the very end. The difference between the sides was less tactical than a difference in options: France bring on enough from the bench to change a match's fate, while Belgium bring on just enough to delay defeat.

Match Card

  • Competition: UEFA Nations League — League A, Group 1, Matchday 4
  • Date: 5 October 2026
  • Venue: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
  • Result: France 4 – 1 Belgium
  • France scorers: Désiré Doué (77'), Rayan Cherki (81'), Michael Olise (88', 90+1')