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France national football team
International Friendlies
Jun 7, 2015 at 8pm UK
 
Belgium national football team

3-4

Valbuena (53' pen.), Fekir (89'), Payet (91')
FT(HT: 0-2)
­Fellaini (17', 42'), Nainggolan (50'), Hazard (54' pen.)

Belgium survive late France comeback to win seven-goal thriller

Belgium survive a late comeback from France to beat the Euro 2016 hosts 4-3 at the Stade de France.

Belgium continued their preparations for next week's Euro 2016 qualifier with Wales by picking up a dramatic 4-3 victory over hosts France in Paris.

Two first-half goals from Marouane Fellaini, a third from Radja Nainggolan and an Eden Hazard penalty were enough for Marc Wilmots' side to upset next year's tournament hosts, despite Les Blues scoring twice in the dying minutes at the Stade de France.

The visitors took the lead on 17 minutes when Nainggolan seized on Laurent Koscielny's attempted clearance before teeing up Fellaini for a close-range tap-in.

France tried to pull a goal back as Antoine Griezmann's low shot was deflected wide of Thibaut Courtois's goal.

However, Belgium continued to pose problems for Les Bleus and doubled their lead after Toby Alderweireld's cross found Fellaini and his header proved too much for a helpless Hugo Lloris.

Things got worse for the hosts soon after the break when Nainggolan's swerving strike from the edge of the area found the bottom corner of Lloris's net.

That goal sparked a frantic few minutes as France were awarded a penalty after Nicolas Lombaerts was caught pulling Olivier Giroud's shirt.

Mathieu Valbuena scored from the spot, but France's hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished when Belgium were also given a penalty within moments as Koscielny dragged Fellaini down.

Hazard duly stepped up to beat Lloris as the visitors threatened to run up an embarrassing scoreline and they almost scored a fifth when Romelu Lukaku's effort came back off the underside of the crossbar.

France did pull back an 89th-minute consolation goal through Nabil Fekir after good work from debutant Paul-Georges Ntep.

Les Bleus then threatened a dramatic comeback as Dimitri Payet scored a third in the 91st minute to leave Belgium on tenterhooks.

They almost found an unlikely equaliser when Ntep's cross took a wicked deflection off Leander Dendoncker, but Courtois was able to stop the ball from trickling over the line as the visitors held on for victory.

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Chris O'Keefe
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Belgium's midfielder Marouane Fellaini celebrates after scoring during a Group H football match between Belgium and Algeria on June 17, 2014
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