Olise and Kumbedi help France top Group A1 as Belgium see off Italy

France finished top of Group A1 after beating Türkiye 2-1 in Bordeaux.

Michael Olise and Saël Kumbedi helped France to a top spot finish in Group A1 of the UEFA Nations League. Zinedine Zidane’s men scored two second-half goals to beat Türkiye 2-1 on the final matchday, while Belgium will now follow them in the quarter-finals after a 4-1 success over Italy.

Roberto Mancini’s side missed out on the knockout stages as they failed to build on their emphatic victory over France. Olise had another solid performance for Les Bleus, although it was the first time he didn’t register a goal or an assist under the new head coach.

Kumbedi suffered relegation with Wolfsburg last season, but Zidane called the 2. Bundesliga fullback for the senior national team after Pierre Kalulu’s injury. After coming on as a substitute against Italy, the 21-year-old played the entire 90 minutes on Sunday.

The sought-after attacker Junior Eli Kroupi also played his first home game against Türkiye, and he capped it off by scoring France’s second goal after Emirhan Topcu’s own-goal at the start of the second-half. Can Uzun’s Türkiye relegated to League B after losing all six games in the group.

Italy opened the score against Belgium in the other game from the group, but Marc van Bommel’s men responded immediately as their big win sent them to the knockout stages. The last eight of the competition will take place in March with a two-legged format as Germany hope to get involved with a win over Netherlands on Monday.