With goals from Youri Tielemans and Kevin De Bruyne, Belgium defeated Romania 2-0 to open their Euro 2024 campaign and win their first tournament points.
Domenico Tedesco’s team came out firing after suffering an unlucky and disappointing loss to Slovakia in their opening encounter. Tielemans’ goal, a lay-off from Romelu Lukaku from the edge of the area, rewarded them 73 seconds later.
Belgium, with Jeremy Doku’s direct running and the excellent De Bruyne leading the way, were nervous and frustrated as their lead held at one goal despite an excellent team effort.
After the break, De Bruyne curled one attempt wide and then another straight at keeper Florin Nita. Shortly after, Lukaku was denied a goal for the third time in this tournament by VAR, who penalised him for a little offside ruling after latching onto De Bruyne’s assist. This moment captured the essence of the frustration.
Romania persisted as a threat, forcing Belgium goalkeeper Koen Casteels—who had earlier made a good save against Radu Dragusin—to make a game-saving stop against Dennis Man, who had raced free following an ill-advised header by Amadou Onana.
But with ten minutes remaining, De Bruyne scored a captain’s goal after latching onto a route-one ball forward, sealing the victory. All four teams in Group E have three points after one round of play, which bodes well for an exciting and intense finish to this pool the following week.
Belgium captain Kevin De Bruyne:
“We played well, even if in the second half we gave them a few opportunities. But above all we created a lot and we deserve to win.
“We made a few mistakes and gave a few chances but I think we played well offensively and defensively.
“Sometimes you create a lot of chances and you don’t score and in the end, there’s a long ball coming and it’s a goal. I found space and touched the ball just in time to push it in.
“We create chances for him and Romelu always scores. He responds when he has to be there and he will score again in the next match.
“Against Ukraine, we have to play like we played today but also like we did against Slovakia. We know what we have to do.”
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