Ousmane Dembele shines as France pick up first win of Nations League campaign
Ousmane Dembele stepped up for France as Les Blues pulled off a 2-0 victory over the Red Devils. He both scored and assisted in the win.
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Ousmane Dembele both scored and assisted in France's 2-0 win over Belgium (Via X/@equipedefrance)
Ousmane Dembele led the French attack as Les Bleus took on Belgium after an embarrassing defeat to Italy a few days ago. The first few minutes of the game pointed to a repeat against Italy, although their defense did well to withstand constant pressure from the visitors.
However, an Mbappe-less French team drew its inspiration from an unlikely candidate – Dembele. The Paris Saint-Germain forward kicked the game into life when he set up strike partner Randal Kolo Muani at the half-hour mark. The No.11’s scuffed shot ended up putting the ball on a plate for Kolo Muani, who fired in his shot past Koen Casteels and Wout Faes.
In the second half, Dembele took matters into his own hands, as he found the net from a sublime effort. The 27-year-old dribbled around the edge of the penalty area before firing his shot into the top right corner, thereby assuring Les Blues of victory after losing their opening game 3-1 to Italy.
Ousmane Dembele was taken off for Michael Olise in the last ten minutes as Kylian Mbappe also came on in the 67th minute.
Kevin De Bruyne grills teammates after disappointing loss to France
Belgium ended up on the wrong side of the score line as they took on France in the Nations League on Monday night. That being said, nothing appeared to go in the direction of Belgium, with Kevin De Bruyne and co. failing to find the net throughout the 90 minutes. In an angry post-match rant, the Manchester City man said that ‘too many things went wrong’ for him and his men.
He said that it’s ‘over’ for his team if they can’t even live up to the standard they’ve kept for themselves. De Bruyne also admitted that he didn’t want to outline his side’s shortcomings after already mentioning them to his teammates at half-time.
It is what it is. It's not about transition but more about people who do not perform their tasks.Kevin De Bruyne said in a post-match interview (H/T: ESPN)
The Man City midfielder also expressed his disapproval of the team’s composition, stating that they played with ‘too many’ men at the back. Coach Domenico Tedesco appeared to have no problems with the captain’s rant given his position. Tedesco praised the player’s winning mentality and emotional response to the team’s poor performance.
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Sherwin Shaju
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