In Brussels, France and Belgium were still tied 0-0 after 42 minutes on Monday, September 28, in their Nations League match. Les Bleus created several chances, but the Red Devils also troubled the French defense. Kylian Mbappé was unavailable due to injury.
French chances without a goal
France came close to opening the scoring in the 27th minute. After a free kick from Maghnes Akliouche was saved by the Belgian goalkeeper, Esteban Lepaul’s attempt was also stopped. Pierre Kalulu then shot, but Nathan Ngoy cleared the ball off the line.
A few minutes earlier, Bradley Barcola had been brought down by Ngoy as he was about to shoot. The referee did not award a penalty. Another controversial incident had already raised questions among the French players, although the live broadcast did not specify the circumstances.
Kevin De Bruyne also tried his luck from distance: in the 24th minute, his lob from midfield missed the target despite Mike Maignan being off his line. In the 38th minute, the Belgian midfielder came close to scoring after a pass from Charles de Ketelaere.
Belgium is proving dangerous
France had more possession, but were never truly safe. In the 31st minute, a cross from Nathan Ngoy crossed the French penalty area without finding a teammate, with Charles de Ketelaere close to getting on the end of it. Earlier, Mika Godts had drawn a foul from Eduardo Camavinga about 30 meters from goal.
In the 42nd minute, Diego Moreira received the first yellow card of the match for having pulled Pierre Kalulu down during a French ball out.
An initial assessment at the 42nd minute
At the time of this update, France had 60% possession and eight shots, four of which were on target. Belgium had five shots, none of which were on target. The score remained 0-0, despite chances for both teams.
This match was Zinedine Zidane’s second in charge of Les Bleus, three days after a 1-0 victory in Turkey. The manager had to do without Kylian Mbappé, who was ruled out after suffering a hyperextension of his left knee, according to match reports.
Source: franceinfo – Headlines (www.franceinfo.fr)
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