Belgium Face France Without De Bruyne and Tielemans in Nations League Clash
Belgium face France on Monday night with first place in UEFA Nations League Group A2 within reach, but coach Mark van Bommel must reshape his midfield after Kevin De Bruyne and Youri Tielemans were suspended.
France arrive as group leaders on seven points, one ahead of Belgium. Italy have four points in third, while Turkiye remain without a point. The meeting also gives the Red Devils an immediate opportunity to respond to their 1-0 home defeat by France in the sides’ earlier fixture, settled by Michael Olise’s 88th-minute intervention in Brussels.
Van Bommel said Belgium deserved more from that first contest and believes France’s exceptional individual options can alter a match in an instant. He highlighted Kylian Mbappe’s recent display away to Turkiye as well as Olise’s influence against Belgium, while warning that Zinedine Zidane’s side cannot depend only on isolated moments of quality over a sustained campaign.
Zidane took over from Didier Deschamps during the summer, following a 14-year spell in which France won the 2018 World Cup. Van Bommel sees the task for the new France manager as maintaining consistent standards across a squad packed with established talent, and Belgium will seek to expose any lack of cohesion as the group race develops.
Belgium must cover major midfield absences
De Bruyne and Tielemans collected yellow cards in Friday’s 3-0 win over Turkiye and will miss the France match. Their absence removes Belgium’s leading creative presence and their captain from the side, creating a significant selection problem for Van Bommel.
The Belgium coach acknowledged the scale of the loss, describing De Bruyne as his best player and Tielemans as his captain. However, he said he trusted the replacements to understand their responsibilities, with defensive discipline likely to be decisive against France. Belgium must restrict the number of opportunities conceded, he said, or the contest could become extremely difficult.
The role is Van Bommel’s first in international management. The former Netherlands midfielder previously coached PSV Eindhoven, Wolfsburg and Royal Antwerp before replacing Rudi Garcia this summer. Garcia left after taking Belgium to the World Cup quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Spain.
Belgium are also looking to improve on a disappointing Nations League record from last season, when they did not progress from a group that included France and Italy. Their best run in the competition came in 2020-21, when they reached the final four and finished fourth.
