Belgium captain Kevin de Bruyne criticised his teammates for failing to "give everything" in the 2-0 Uefa Nations League defeat to France.
With captain Kylian Mbappe among the substitutes, it was two of his former Paris Saint-Germain teammates who scored the goals that guided France to victory at Parc Olympique Lyonnais.
Striker Randal Kolo Muani opened the scoring for the hosts in the 29th minute when he applied the finish after Ousmane Dembele's mishit shot was pushed out by Belgian goalkeeper Koen Casteels. Dembele then doubled France's lead with a fine individual effort 12 minutes into the second half. The PSG winger skipped inside from the right wing before blasting a shot into the net with his left foot.
The victory was the ideal response to France's disappointing 3-1 home loss to Italy in their first game, and they now have an identical record to Belgium, who beat Israel 3-1 in their opener.
Not for the first time, De Bruyne was visibly frustrated during the Group A2 match and later told Belgian VTM television too many things had gone wrong in the game.
“I can’t say here what went wrong. I already did that to the team at half time,” the Manchester City midfielder said. “I cannot repeat that in the media but it has to be better in every way. If the standard we want to reach is the best, but we’re no longer good enough to get to that level, then you have to give everything. If you don’t even do that, it’s over.
“I can accept that we’re not as good as in 2018,” the 33-year-old De Bruyne added of the side that reached the World Cup semi-finals in Russia. "I was the first to see that, but other things are unacceptable. I’m not going to say what.”
But pressed in the interview, he did point out one problem. "We are too many at the back. If you stay with six at the back, there is no connection. It is what it is. It is not about transition, but about people who do not perform their tasks.”
Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco said he understood De Bruyne’s anger, saying: "He is our captain and has a huge winning mentality, so he can also react emotionally.”
Belgium made a lively start to the game but were quickly overwhelmed by a superior France side, who bounced back from last week’s loss to Italy in Paris to win comfortably.
Italy maintain fine start
Italy kept up their perfect start to the Nations League with a 2-1 win over Israel in a game played on neutral territory in Budapest due to the security situation in the country.
Goals in each half from Davide Frattesi and Moise Kean were enough for Italy to win in a subdued atmosphere at the Bozsik Arena, home of Honved.
Luciano Spalletti's team have reacted well to their disastrous European Championship title defence, which ended at the last-16 stage, and deserved their second win in a matter of days.
Frattesi followed his goal in the 3-1 win in France by chesting home Federico Dimarco's pinpoint cross in the 38th minute to open the scoring.
Fiorentina striker Kean made it 2-0 just after the hour mark with his first Italy goal in almost three years, before Mohamed Abu Fani pulled one back at the end for Israel.
Italy are top of Nations League Group A2 with a maximum six points.
Haaland scores Norway winner, Sesko hat-trick
In Group B3, Norway beat Austria 2-1 in Oslo as Manchester City star Erling Haaland fired in the winner 10 minutes from time.
Felix Myhre gave Norway an early lead only for Marcel Sabitzer of Borussia Dortmund to equalise for Austria before the break.
However, Haaland, who drew a blank in Norway's 0-0 draw in Kazakhstan on Friday, showed trademark strength inside the box to hold off his marker and fire in the winner, with the goal given after a long VAR check for a possible offside.
In the same group, RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko bagged a hat-trick as Slovenia beat Kazakhstan 3-0 in Ljubljana.
In Group B4, Wales followed their goalless draw against Turkey by beating Montenegro 2-1 away for their first win under new coach Craig Bellamy.
They got off to a terrific start, with Kieffer Moore and Harry Wilson both scoring inside the first three minutes. Driton Camaj then pulled one back for the hosts.
Turkey beat Iceland 3-1 in Izmir, a game in which Kerem Akturkoglu of Benfica hit a hat-trick. There were also wins on Monday for Romania and Kosovo respectively in League C.
