Belgium came into their game with Romania on Saturday as the only team yet to score at Euro 2024, but they fixed that particular issue after only 73 seconds, with Youri Tielemans scoring his nation’s quickest goal at a major tournament.
Match Events
2' GOAL! Belgium 1-0 Romania (Youri Tielemans)
80' GOAL! Belgium 2-0 Romania (Kevin De Bruyne)
Match Report
Belgium marmalised Romania to kickstart their European Championship. Saturday night was alright for a fightback, and in front of a raucous crowd they turned the mood of their campaign entirely on its head.
After a week of public utterances that suggested he was happy with the way his team had played against Slovakia, and insisting “losing has changed nothing in our mind”, Domenico Tedesco made four changes, refreshing every area of the field. It took all of 73 seconds to register the difference as Youri Tielemans, in for Orel Mangala, finished off a sweeping Belgium move to open the scoring.
The play began with Romelu Lukaku, the culprit of so many missed chances against Slovakia, driving deep into Romanian territory. He laid the ball off to Kevin De Bruyne, who in turn found Jérémy Doku. The winger dinked across the edge of the box before finding Lukaku again on the penalty spot. The striker held off his man, saw Tielemans approaching and gently laid the ball to his feet and the Aston Villa midfielder drove low under the dive of Florin Nita.
It was beautiful, graceful, football with a little bit of oomph for good measure, and Belgium continued in that vein for the rest of the first half. Yes, within a couple of minutes Radu Dragusin had forced Koen Casteels into a great save with a header from a corner, but Belgium were producing wave after wave of danger. Romania, who had been so dominant against Ukraine, were lucky to be in the game by the mid-point.
Dominant during this period were Belgium’s two wide men: Doku and Dodi Lukebakio. Doku we know about, and restored to the left hand side for this match – his customary position when marauding for Manchester City – he was at times unstoppable. He dropped deep, held the ball, span and ran. He went on the shoulder of the full-back and ran beyond him. Lukaku should have scored from his good work in the 13th minute and he had his own shot well saved on the half hour.
Lukebakio has had an itinerant career since making his debut as a substitute for Tielemans at Anderlecht in 2015. Now 26, he is coming off the back of a strong debut season at Sevilla and looked composed, direct and technically adept on the Belgian right-hand side. He had his own chance to score after a jaw-dropping run through the middle of the park by De Bruyne, but Nita did well to turn a swerving 20-yard shot around his post.
The second half if anything was more exciting than the first, with Romania finally making their own contribution to the game. They could have equalised three minutes after the restart through their most potent attacking threat, Valentin Mihaila, but after outpacing Amadou Onana on the counter he blazed his shot over.
Then came Belgium again with another series of lightning-fast moves, usually with Doku at their heart. The pressure was unyielding but a goal would not come. Lukaku should have scored when connecting with a De Bruyne free-kick in the 58th minute but his shot was weak. Five minutes later he had his third overturned goal of the tournament, running on to a sublime De Bruyne through ball to finish only to be told by VAR that his knee had been offside. The apparently hexed 32-year-old then had another shot on the turn parried by Nita before Romania carved out their best chance of the match, but Casteels put out a strong arm to deny Dennis Man.
Then, finally, at long, long last, Belgium put the game to bed, albeit in the most agricultural of circumstances. A goal kick from Casteels went over absolutely everyone bar De Bruyne. He was alert on the last line of the Romania defence to get a toe on to the ball and under an advancing Nita. The Belgian captain tore off to the stands and slid on his knees, and the fans went into uproar. Despite a couple of nervy moments in the box in the closing stages, they deservedly held their lead to go into their final match against Ukraine with a chance of topping group E. The Red Devils aren’t dead yet.
Line-ups
Belgium XI: Vertonghen, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Casteels, Tielemans, Castagne, Wout Faes, Dodi Lukébakio, Amadou Onana, Jérémy Doku, Arthur Theate
Subs: Thomas Kaminski, Sels, Trossard, Carrasco, Mangala, Openda, Maxim De Cuyper, De Ketelaere, Aster Vranckx, Johan Bakayoko, Zeno Debast, Arthur Vermeeren
Romania XI: Florin Niță, Nicolae Stanciu, Nicușor Bancu, Marin, Andrei Burcă, Marius Marin, Dennis Man, Denis Drăguș, Valentin Mihăilă, Andrei Rațiu, Radu Drăgușin
Subs: Denis Alibec, Puscas, Ionuț Nedelcearu, Vasile Mogoș, Alexandru Cicâldău, I.Hagi, Florinel Coman, Deian Sorescu, Darius Olaru, Adrian Șut, Adrian Rus, Horațiu Moldovan, Ștefan Târnovanu, Bogdan Racovițan, Daniel Bîrligea