Belgium, from Zeno Debast and Dodi Lukebakio, defeated Italy, from Issa Doumbia, on the first League of Nations journey, with Benfica player scoring one of the goals of the match. Mbappé helped to the party of Zidane's debut, but left Mourinho in overdrive.
© Getty Images
25/09/2026
by
A the first day of the League of Nations continues to be fought by Europe outside, with several meetings taking place on Friday night. Among them was the highly anticipated Italy-Belgium, which had many ‘Portuguese’ in action in the visiting victory by 0-2.
Although Issa Doumbia started at the bench of alternates azzurri and Zeno Debast and Dodi Lukebakio in the Belgian devils, the truth is that Diego Moreira, former Benfica, was the holder of his selection.
The meeting began with a Belgian domination from very early on, with the team led by Mark van Bommel opening the scorer at 20 minutes by Mika Godts, a Paris Saint-Germain player, after a teleguided assistance from Kevin De Bruyne.
Now, the truth is that the result of the break could have been much more large, if not for the Belgian team's waste show, which made 14 shots in the first 45 minutes, with all five that were framed to represent flagrant goals opportunities.
The truth is that in the second half, the roles were reversed, with Italy going to try to relaunch the game, but it was Belgium that did damage again, with the authorship of a Benfica player.
Lukebakio scored again in Italian territory within a few days, increasing the foreign advantage at Rome's Stadio Olympiac at 69 minutes.
Issa Doumbia also jumped from the bank to make her debut by the main team azzurri, entering the place of Nico Barella, at 80 minutes of departure and already with the result at 0-2, while Zeno Debast was not used by the Dutch technician.
France beats Turkey on opening day (with Mourinho on bump)
France went to the Kocaeli Stadyumu in Turkey to see its new selector Zinedine Zidane, delivering a nice welcome gift to the former Real Madrid coach.
The ascendant was being more accentuated by the Gauls, even if it was not very accommodating to the visitors, with the result being a null interval.
The truth is, in the second part, France was stronger, despite a reaction from Turkey. Kylian Mbappé turned out to be decisive in scoring the only goal of the match, at 54 minutes, after assistance from the inevitable Michael Olise.
However, this moment was to sound the alarms, since, between the time of the shoot and the celebration, the French advanced wound up and had to be replaced, leaving José Mourinho and Real Madrid on alert.
Until the end, there was still time for Turkey's goalkeeper to see the red card, by a hand in the ball outside the big area, when he tried to stop Bradley Barcola in a Turkish goal attack at 88 minutes of play.