Turkiye 1-2 Belgium: Comeback win keeps quarter-final hopes alive

Belgium rallied from a goal down to beat Turkiye 2-1 in the Nations League, leapfrogging Italy into second place in Group A1. 

Having parted company with Vincenzo Montella and hired Sergen Yalcin since the previous international break, Turkiye looked determined to impress their new boss early on.

And they went ahead in spectacular fashion after 20 minutes, as Real Madrid midfielder Arda Guler whipped a glorious, left-footed free-kick around the Belgium wall and into the top-left corner from 30 yards out.

That lead only lasted seven minutes, though, as Jeremy Doku tricked his way past Oguz Aydin and centred from the left, with his former Manchester City team-mate Kevin De Bruyne crashing a first-time finish high into the net.

And Belgium's rapid turnaround was complete on the half-hour mark. 

Doku was involved again, riding Aydin's challenge as he bustled his way to the right side of the area, before seeing his cross blocked. Nicolas Raskin pounced on the loose ball and found Maxim De Cuyper at the far post, and though the Brighton man saw his first attempted cutback blocked, his second found Charles De Ketelaere for a tap-in.

Diego Moreira curled an effort over the crossbar prior to the interval, and Belgium had a better chance to extend their lead just before the hour, only for Ugurcan Cakir to thwart De Ketelaere.

Turkiye applied some pressure, with Guler shooting straight at Senne Lammens as he hit the deck somewhat easily under the attention of Raskin, while Deniz Gul and Hakan Calhanoglu both saw angled drives blocked by the Manchester United goalkeeper, but that positive spell came too late for Turkiye. 

Daring Doku takes the fight to Turkiye

When Belgium fell behind to Guler's stunning free-kick – his eighth goal in 37 senior internationals – they were staring at the prospect of their Nations League quarter-final hopes being ended with a game to spare, depending on Italy's result versus France.

But Mark van Bommel's side fought back to pile the pressure on the Azzurri, and Doku was the catalyst for their revival.

The livewire Manchester City winger attempted a staggering 15 dribbles during Thursday's match, seven of which were successful, including one that led to him assisting De Bruyne.

There are only two instances of a player attempting more dribbles in a single Nations League match. One of those was Doku himself, against Ukraine in March 2025 (16), with the other being Georgia's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia against North Macedonia in September 2020 (17).

Doku's 24 duels contested have only ever been bettered three times in a Nations League game, with those aforementioned performances from Doku (26) and Kvaratskhelia (27), in addition to England's Raheem Sterling tallying 25 against Iceland in September 2020.

Van Bommel can now sit back and await the result of Italy's clash with France, but whatever happens in Milan, Belgium will have a chance of clinching a quarter-final place on Sunday, when they host the Azzurri.