Michael Olise emerges as France’s most dangerous player during Nations League games

PARIS (AP) — With Kylian Mbappé injured and Ousmane Dembélé out of form, Michael Olise emerged as France’s most dangerous player during recent Nations League games.

Olise lit up the Stade de France on Monday night with a performance which left coach Zinedine Zidane awestruck.

“What he’s doing is just exceptional,” Zidane said.

Monday’s match against Belgium was evenly balanced at 1-1 when Olise replaced Dembélé on the hour. He ended up with two goals and an assist in a stunning cameo performance alongside Désiré Doué and Rayan Cherki, who also came on.

The trio dazzled with the speed and precision of their passing, and the mobile forwards were involved in a sublime fourth goal.

Cherki switched play from the right to the left for Doué, who then played the ball behind the defense for Olise to run onto and finish with a first-time shot.

“It’s what we love,” Zidane said.

Usually a reserved character, Doué rolled on the ground with Olise in his arms in celebration. Just minutes earlier, Doué set up Olise’s first goal and they combined with a rare intuition.

Doué scored France’s equalizer, and Olise set up the mercurial Cherki before stealing the show with his late brace.

This bodes well for the future of France’s attack, given that Doué is only 21, Cherki is 23 and Olise is 24.

In a team full of gifted attacking players, Olise is surpassing Ballon d’Or winner Dembélé as France’s chief creator.

“Olise is absolutely tearing it up. He’s right at the top, soaring above the clouds,” former France standout midfielder Alain Giresse told sports daily L’Equipe on Tuesday. “He’s really coming into his own.”

Olise had the most assists at the World Cup with seven. He didn’t score and missed good chances after warming up for the tournament with a clinical hat trick against Northern Ireland.

He recovered his scoring groove in the Nations League with four in four games.

After setting up Mbappé’s goal in a 1-0 win at Turkey — the game where the Real Madrid star got injured — Olise scored a late solo goal in a 1-0 win in Belgium with a mesmerising solo run from deep. Zidane reacted by sprinting down the touchline and booting a soccer ball as if he’d scored it himself.

Against Italy on Friday, Olise broke the deadlock with a superb dipping free kick. Tellingly, the quick-thinking Cherki was involved in both of those goals.

Giresse played alongside three-time Ballon d’Or winner Michel Platini during the 1980s, in a brilliant France midfield known as the “Golden Quartet.” He summed up the multiple threats in France’s current attack.

“Playing out on the right allows Cherki to operate centrally. So, we’ve got two creators (playmakers). It’s a long time since we’ve had players of that caliber,” Giresse said. “Then you add in Doué, (Bradley) Barcola, and Dembélé, and Mbappé who wasn’t even playing.”

As the players warmed up against Belgium, the cameras caught Cherki showing Olise how to do a trick.

Cherki flicked the ball up with the inside of his left foot onto his right heel before spinning around, and controlling the ball again on his shin as it landed. Olise came close but couldn’t quite pull it off, while Cherki did it again with remarkable ease.

As players they seem to have a natural understanding, and both are set to play a big part in France’s future under Zidane. ___

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