At least this time Belgium can say that they provoked a genuinely brilliant response from France. The last meeting between these countries begat rancour, with Belgium grumbling about the negativity of Didier Deschamps’s team after losing 1-0 in the 2018 World Cup semi-final. This time France were forced to attack after Yannick Carrasco and Romelu Lukaku fired Belgium into a 2-0 lead. And oh, how they attacked. Theo Hernandez’s ferocious winning goal crowned a momentous fightback to set up a duel with Spain in Sunday’s Nations League final.
It was a thrilling, topsy-turvy contest in which France looked sketchy in the first half but played with fire and pizzazz in the second period, Kylian Mbappé and Paul Pogba showing the style that will win France new admirers and many more matches if Deschamps can get them to produce it consistently.