PARIS: Substitute Andreas Cornelius scored twice as Denmark came from behind after a brilliant Karim Benzema goal to beat France 2-1 on Friday in the UEFA Nations League at the Stade de France, the first match at the venue since the chaos that marred last weekend’s Champions League final.

Benzema’s stunning strike put World Cup holders France in front six minutes after half-time, only for Trabzonspor striker Cornelius to turn in Denmark’s equaliser midway through the second half and then smash in an 88th-minute winner in their Group A1 clash.

That meant it was a disappointing night for France who saw both Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane come off injured.

“We have players who have played a lot of games this season and we clearly lacked freshness,” said France assistant coach Guy Stephan, who deputising for Didier Deschamps following his father’s death.

Benzema, who lifted the Champions League trophy with Real Madrid at the same venue last Saturday, looked like he was headed for another stellar night as he had an early shot smothered and then a goal ruled out for offside.

His strike partner Mbappe departed at halftime after picking up an injury but Benzema was undeterred, cutting in from the right and playing a one-two with Christopher Nkunku before dribbling past another couple of Danish defenders and firing home in the 51st minute.

The world champions had Denmark under enormous pressure for most of the second half but they levelled through substitute Cornelius when he deftly volleyed home a pass from Pierre Hojbjerg in the 68th minute.

The goal did little to stop the relentless waves of French attacks and Ngolo Kante should have put the home side back into the lead in the 81st minute, but his curling shot smacked off the right-hand post with Kasper Schmeichel stranded.

Denmark remained a danger on the break, with playmaker Christian Eriksen somehow firing his shot straight at Hugo Lloris with the goal at his mercy in the 86th minute, but Cornelius came to the rescue two minutes later.

The 29-year-old beat the offside trap to latch on to Joakim Maehle’s long pass and blasted the ball high into the net past Lloris for the winner.

“It was better than even I expected. Fantastic, in front of 80,000 people, we go over and beat the world’s best team,” a delighted Cornelius told Danish broadcaster TV2.

“We have a strong team and have good players everywhere. We have lots of players who can come in from the bench and keep the level up. We are a small country but we can play with the best.”

France travel to Croatia for their next game on Monday, while the Danes face another away game against group leaders Austria, who beat the Croatians 3-0 in their opener with Marko Arnautovic, Michael Gregoritsch and Marcel Sabitzer all scoring.

Austria took the lead against the run of play just before halftime when Arnautovic made a solo run past the defence and took a shot from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner.

Substitute Gregoritsch doubled Austria’s lead in the 54th minute on the counter attack with a fine first-touch strike, while Sabitzer made it 3-0 three minutes later.

Meanwhile, Memphis Depay scored a double as the Netherlands ended 25 years without success against neighbours Belgium in Brussels with a 4-1 thumping of their hosts in Group A4.

Steven Bergwijn and Denzel Dumfries netted the other two goals as the Dutch ended Belgium’s almost six-year unbeaten home record in a stark reversal for the team, who had topped the FIFA rankings for three years until being recently deposed.

Bergwijn hammered home from outside the box in the 40th minute to give the Dutch a deserved halftime lead before Depay and Dumfries added more in the second half in a decisive performance. Michy Batshuayi pulled one back late on for Belgium.

Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk said he was not surprised by the away win. “We analysed them well and we executed our plans, we did it very well. It was an excellent night.”

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2022