BRUSSELS: Randal Kolo Muani of Paris Saint-Germain scored twice as France again won in the absence of Kylian Mbappe on Monday, beating Belgium 2-1 away in the UEFA Nations League.
Kolo Muani’s opener from the penalty spot in the 35th minute at the King Baudouin Stadium was cancelled out by Lois Openda in first-half stoppage time.
But Kolo Muani, who has had a difficult start to the season with his club, then headed in the winner just after the hour mark.
France, who saw Belgium’s Youri Tielemans squander an early spot-kick, held on with 10 men after stand-in captain Aurelien Tchouameni was sent off late on.
“I am happy for him,” coach Didier Deschamps told L’Equipe TV when asked about the contribution of Kolo Muani, who has not been a regular starter for PSG.
“Randal is performing very well for us. He is full of confidence and the first game (against Israel) did him a lot of good too.
“He has that ability to get in behind. He was also pretty good today with his back to goal, and he is very good in the air.”
The result was France’s second win in as many games in this international break, despite the absence of skipper Mbappe, who was allowed to sit out the matches following a recent thigh injury.
France had few problems beating Israel 4-1 in Budapest without him last Thursday, but Mbappe’s shadow still hung over this game.
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As Les Bleus took to the field in the Belgian capital, a newspaper report in Sweden claimed that Mbappe was being investigated for rape following a visit to Stockholm last week.
Mbappe claimed in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that there was a link with his hearing before a French league committee on Tuesday in his bitter dispute over unpaid wages with his former club Paris Saint-Germain.
“FAKE NEWS !!!!. It’s becoming so predictable, on the eve of the hearing, as if by chance,” Mbappe posted.
It remains to be seen if the Real Madrid star will be back for the last Nations League group games next month, when France can secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Winners of the Nations League in 2021, France are second in Group A2 with nine points, one point behind Italy, who defeated Israel 4-1 on Monday.
The French are also five points better off than Belgium in third place, with the top two in each group advancing to the last eight next March.
Belgium were missing their own captain and talisman, as Kevin De Bruyne was absent just as he had been for last Thursday’s 2-2 draw in Italy.
Tielemans, of Aston Villa, wore the armband but he passed up the chance to put Belgium ahead midway through the first half, blazing over with a penalty after Openda had been fouled in the box by William Saliba.
France then won a penalty of their own as Wout Faes touched the ball with his arm in the area and Kolo Muani confidently fired in from the spot.
Openda headed in a Timothy Castagne cross to restore parity just before the interval, and France were denied a second goal approaching the hour mark when a Manu Kone strike was disallowed for a Kolo Muani handball in the build-up.
But Kolo Muani got the winner on 62 minutes when he rose to head in an inviting Lucas Digne cross.
Tchouameni was shown a second yellow card quarter of an hour from time for tripping Tielemans as the Belgian player advanced on goal, but the visitors held on.
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