Nations League: What Italy need to qualify after Turkiye 1-2 Belgium
Belgium completed a comeback 2-1 victory away to Turkiye with Serie A players Kevin De Bruyne and Charles De Ketelaere on target, putting pressure on Italy in the Nations League.
The Red Devils had the early kick-off this evening and had gone behind in Izmir to a magnificent Arda Guler free kick into the top corner on 20 minutes.
However, they had turned it around by the half-hour mark thanks to Napoli midfielder De Bruyne and the winner three minutes later by De Ketelaere after a mad scramble.
The result remained intact, so despite sacking Vincenzo Montella, Turkiye remain rock bottom of the group on zero points.
Belgium put pressure on Italy
It pushes Belgium onto nine points, temporarily ahead of Italy on seven, while France are still top on 10.
This was not entirely unpredictable, as Turkiye have lost every single match in the Nations League this season.
Only the top two in each group go through to the quarter-final, so it all goes down to Sunday’s showdown between Belgium and Italy in Brussels.
That is true regardless of this evening’s result when the Azzurri host France at San Siro, kicking off at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).
If Italy win this evening, they will be able to afford a draw in Brussels on Sunday and still go through in at least second place.
Anything less than that will force them to get the victory, turning around the 2-0 home defeat that opened their campaign back in September.
Group A1
| Rank | Teams | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goal difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| 2 | Belgium | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 4 | Turkey | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | -10 | 0 |
