Italy fell behind after 12 seconds but came back to beat France 3-1 in a highly entertaining opening match of Nations League Group A2 on Friday.

Bradley Barcola found the net in the opening minute when he caught Giovanni Di Lorenzo napping and raced into the penalty area before curling a shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma. Italy levelled on the half-hour mark when Federico Dimarco turned in a deft backheel pass from Sandro Tonali, and the teams were level at half-time after a pulsating opening half.

Five minutes after the break, France were shocked again when Davide Frattesi put Italy ahead and Giacomo Raspadori gave the visitors some breathing space in the 74th minute by silencing the crowd at the Parc des Prince.

“Great game. We were afraid he (Tonali) wouldn’t make it through the 90 minutes, but in the end he gave two good bursts. We found another very strong player,” said Italy coach Luciano Spalletti.

In Friday’s other match in Group A2, Kevin De Bruyne scored twice to take the lead Belgium to a 3-1 victory over Israel in a match played behind closed doors in Hungary for security reasons.

Belgium’s captain put his team ahead after 21 minutes, but Israel equalised nine minutes before half-time despite defending for most of the half at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen. Youri Tielemans restored Belgium’s lead straight after the break, with De Bruyne converting a penalty shortly afterwards to extend their lead. Belgium could afford to waste another penalty as they moved joint-top of the table with Italy.

In Group B3, Erling Haaland failed to match his national goalscoring form. Norway had to share the spoils in a goalless draw with Kazakhstan despite having 19 shots.

Slovenia And Austria also a point from their first match with a 1-1 draw. Benjamin Sesko’s first-half penalty was cancelled out 12 minutes later when Konrad Laimer pounced on a ball in the penalty area and scored from close range.

In group C2 Ioannis Pittas scored in the first half to earn Cyprus a 1-0 victory over Lithuania and Dennis Man, Razvan Marin and Denis Dragus scored as Romania achieved a convincing 3-0 victory over Kosovowho sent Mergim Vojvoda off the field just before the end.

In Group B4, Orri Óskarsson and Jón Dagur Thorsteinsson struck in both halves to earn Iceland a 2-0 victory over Montenegro.