France head coach Zinedine Zidane was delighted after Michael Olise scored a stunning goal in his team’s 1-0 win against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League on Monday. France was missing the services of their talisman Kylian Mbappé, but Olise produced a moment of magic to give his team all three points against the Belgians.
The Bayern Munich winger scored the match-winning goal in the 88th minute after he received the ball deep inside his own half, sprinted down the right flank, cut inside, and found the bottom left corner.
After Olise scored, Zidane reacted by sprinting down the touchline to celebrate the goal himself.
“I went along with the play and I wanted to be part of it,” Zidane said with a smile.
“I don’t even know what I did, actually. What’s for sure is that I followed Michael’s [Olise] move, and because I sensed he was off on a dribble and he made an exceptional play, so I wanted to follow him. And then I saw the ball there, and I told myself I had to shoot it, it might be a little bit ridiculous, but it doesn’t matter.”
Meanwhile, Zidane made as many as nine changes to his lineup, giving debuts to Jérémy Jacquet, Andy Diouf, and Lucas Da Cunha, while youngsters like Maghnes Akliouche and Esteban Lepaul earned spots in the starting XI.
“I believe in my players. I believe that I have a group, a team, that gets along well and works well together. I have high-quality players,” the France coach said.
“I wasn’t afraid at all of what might happen. And that’s how it was planned from the start anyway. I told myself that I have 23 players at my disposal and I am going to use them all eventually.”
France will next take on Italy on Friday.
