ITALY BEAT TURKEY 4-1 AS FRANCE EDGE BELGIUM IN NATIONS LEAGUE

France beat Belgium 1-0 in Brussels on Monday, with substitute Michael Olise scoring a late winner. The goal, in the 88th minute, gave new coach Zinedine Zidane back-to-back wins since he replaced Didier Deschamps after the World Cup. Italy responded to their opening Nations League defeat by beating Turkey 4-1 in Bursa. Alessandro Bastoni, Davide Frattesi and Michael Kayode were among the scorers for Roberto Mancini's side. Elsewhere, Sweden beat Poland 3-1, Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Romania 4-2, and Northern Ireland drew 0-0 with Hungary.

Turkey goalkeeper Altay Bayindir struggled with low crosses before two of Italy's goals, and Baris Yilmaz pulled one back before Italy scored again. Mancini said his players "approached it in the right way, staying high up the pitch and playing aggressively throughout the game". France were without captain Kylian Mbappe, who returned to his club for treatment after injuring his left knee against Turkey last Friday. Zidane made nine changes from that game, keeping only goalkeeper Mike Maignan and defender Maxence Lacroix, and gave debuts to Lucas Da Cunha and Esteban Lepaul.

The result left France top of Group A1 with six points, three points ahead of both Belgium and Italy. Zidane's side host Italy at the Stade de France on Friday, before entertaining Belgium on 5 October. Italy's win in Turkey keeps their own hopes alive ahead of that meeting with France. Belgium, under new coach Mark van Bommel, made two changes from the side that beat Italy 2-0 on Friday.