Brace and two assists: Olise leads France past Belgium (4-1)

Michael Olise transformed the match in barely thirty minutes: introduced in the 60th minute in place of Ousmane Dembélé, the Bayern Munich winger scored a brace and set up Rayan Cherki to secure France’s 4-1 win over Belgium on Monday at Stade de France.

Before his two goals in the final quarter of an hour, Olise had first found Cherki in the box with a perfect pass. Désiré Doué had levelled the match with a shot from the edge of the area, but it was the former Crystal Palace player who definitively turned the tide.

Over the entire international break, Olise now has four goals and two assists in four matches, despite only two starts — that’s a decisive contribution every 35 minutes. These statistics prompted the Saint-Denis crowd to chant “Olise Ballon d’Or” in the final minutes, in stark contrast to the whistles directed at Dembélé as he was substituted.

“Olise, what he’s doing is just exceptional,” said manager Zinedine Zidane after the match. Andy Diouf agreed: “He’s a world-class player, we’ve seen it throughout the break. He can change matches.”

When asked about the crowd’s chants, Olise preferred to stay quiet. “I have nothing to say,” he said before heading to the dressing room. However, he offered a measured analysis of the match: “The first half was difficult. Against low blocks, it’s always difficult, but then we kept going and at the end it was good.” On Zidane, he added: “He brings ideas and we follow them. We did it well over the four matches and we’ll keep going like that. It’s a pleasure to play here with the France team.”