🌍 Nations League: Italy stun France; Belgium win; Wales hold Türkiye

Friday saw the Nations League continue apace with several teams back in action.

Here’s what went down.

Italy stun France in historic win

Scorers: Barcola 1′; Dimarco 31′, Frattesi 50′, Raspadori 74′

Italy produced an early surprise in the Nations League with a 3-1 win over France that marked their first in Paris for 70 years.

Bradley Barcola opened his account for the hosts inside just 12 seconds with a rifled effort after dispossessing Giovanni Di Lorenzo deep in his own half.

The Azzurri regrouped and drew level shortly after the half-hour mark through Federico Di Marco’s sublime volley from inside the penalty area.

Within five minutes of the interval, Luciano Spalletti’s side had stunned the Parc des Princes as Davide Frattesi rounded off a counterattack he had originally started.

Giacomo Raspadori added insult to injury for Les Bleus as he latched onto a Destiny Udogie pass and drilled the ball past Serie A counterpart Mike Maignan.

Red Devils’ class shines through

Scorers: De Bruyne 21′, (PEN) 52′, Tielemans 48′; Castagne OG 36′

Belgium kicked off their Nations League campaign with a comfortable 3-1 win over Israel.

Kevin De Bruyne broke the deadlock with an instinctive effort into the roof of the net after being teed up by Manchester City teammate Jérémy Doku’s cutback.

The Red Devils were undone by a moment of misfortune as Timothy Castagne deflected Anan Khalaily’s header into his own net just 15 minutes later.

But the second half saw them reassert their dominance, first through Loïs Openda teeing up Youri Tielemans to drill home a first-time strike.

Domenico Tedesco’s men took a two-goal cushion just four minutes later as De Bruyne converted a penalty after Openda was fouled inside the area.

The RB Leipzig striker was unable to convert his own spot kick fresh from being upended for a second time in the League A Group 2 fixture.

Bellamy off the mark with Wales

Sent off: Yılmaz

Craig Bellamy’s Wales reign began with a point after a hard-fought 0-0 home draw with Türkiye.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men midway through the second half after Barış Yılmaz received his second booking of the game.

But despite their advantage, the Dragons were unable to deliver a winner on Bellamy’s maiden outing at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Other results

Kazakhstan 0-0 Norway

Slovenia 1-1 Austria

Iceland 2-0 Montenegro

Lithuania 0-1 Cyprus

Kosovo 0-3 Romania