France and Germany had stand-in forwards to thank for wins over fierce rivals in the Nations League.

With Kylian Mbappe again absent, Randal Kolo Muani started up front for France and scored in each half in a 2-1 victory away to neighbours Belgium on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).

The Belgians must be sick of the sight of Kolo Muani, who also netted in a 2-0 win in the reverse fixture in Lyon last month. It was also the Paris Saint-Germain striker's shot that deflected into the net when France beat Belgium 1-0 in the last 16 at the European Championship.

On his debut for Germany, Jamie Leweling had a second-minute strike ruled out after a video review, but he had more luck with a rasping drive in the 64th minute to seal a 1-0 triumph over the Netherlands in Munich.

Leweling, a forward for Stuttgart, was one of four players making their first starts for Germany.

There were also victories for Italy, who beat Israel 4-1, and Hungary, 2-0 winners in Bosnia, in the top-tier League A.

With two group games remaining in November, France, Italy and Germany all stand on the verge of clinching a top-two finish and spots in the quarter-finals.

France were forced to hang on to preserve their third win in four group matches after Aurelien Tchouameni, captain in the absence of Mbappe, was shown a second yellow card in the 76th minute for tripping Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans.

Tielemans had earlier lifted a penalty kick over the bar in the 23rd minute, only for Kolo Muani to convert his own spot-kick after Wout Faes was penalised for handball.

Lois Openda headed in the equaliser from Timothy Castagne's cross, with the goal initially ruled out for offside but awarded after VAR check.

Kolo Muani, who has started only two games for PSG this season, grabbed the winner in the 62nd minute in Brussels by heading in Lucas Digne's left-wing cross.

In Munich, Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann gave debuts to youngsters Aleksandar Pavlovic, 20, Angelo Stiller, 23, and the 23-year-old Leweling, who replaced the injured Deniz Undav.

At the other end of the age scale, goalkeeper Oliver Baumann became the third oldest debutant for Germany - at 34 years, 134 days - having been on the bench 26 times.

Baumann produced a brilliant flying save to deny Netherlands substitute Donyell Malen and keep a clean sheet, ensuring the Oranje's 13-match unbeaten streak in the group stage of the Nations League came to an end.

Germany are on 10 points from four games, five more than both the Dutch and Hungary.

Meanwhile, stringent security measures, including armed military personnel on the roof of the 25,000-seater stadium in Udine, were in place as Italy hosted an Israel team playing their first match outside neutral Hungary this year. It came amid Israel's ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Mateo Retegui scored the opener from the penalty spot for Italy, who had further goals by Giovanni Di Lorenzo (two) and Davide Frattesi, as well as a debut for Daniel Maldini, the son of AC Milan great Paolo Maldini.

Italy are in the same group as France and lead by one point. Belgium are third, five points behind France, while Israel have lost all four games.

In other results, Hungary beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0, Albania pipped Georgia 1-0, Turkey won a high-scoring encounter against Iceland 4-2, and Wales beat Montenegro 1-0.

Ukraine and the Czech Republic shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw, Slovakia won their away clash with Azerbaijan 3-1, and Sweden notched a 3-0 win over hosts Estonia.