Kevin De Bruyne stars as Belgium beat Romania – but Romelu Lukaku goal curse continues
Belgium beat Romania: Belgium finally looks formidable at Euro 2024 after thrashing Romania in Cologne to seize the lead in Group E.
Youri Tielemans and the unstoppable Kevin De Bruyne goals in each half did the job on a night when Domenico Tedesco’s ravenous Red Devils showed off their attacking prowess. Belgium came out of the traps spectacularly, capping five excruciating days of agony that followed their humiliating 1-0 loss to Slovakia in Frankfurt on Monday.
Belgium beat Romania at the ongoing euros
Romania’s defense was caught off guard by Jeremy Doku’s deft, unexpected dribbling. The winger then pushed the ball into Romelu Lukaku’s feet, setting him up for a goal within 73 seconds.
The Aston Villa maestro, who was shockingly left off of Tedesco’s starting eleven for Belgium’s dreadfully forgettable opening match, responded with the ideal amount of angst.
In an instant, Koen Casteels produced a superb save to deny Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin’s strong header, bringing Romania dangerously close to equal terms. But Belgium kept tearing through the Romanians with a swagger, conceit, and relative ease.
Lukaku almost doubled the advantage after he received another feed from Doku and shrugged Andrei Burca away. However, Nicusor Bancu’s incredible last-minute intervention caused the ball to go just wide. Then, former Watford winger Dodi Lukebakio came dangerously near after dancing inside Bancu and forcing Florin Nita to make a strong diving stop.
But Doku was definitely the man of danger. The 22-year-old, jet-heeled whizz-kid was enjoying the big stage after displaying flashes of his exciting promise at Euro 2020 three years prior.
Even though Romania tried to remove him from the game, his enticing body feints, captivating flicks, turns, and trickery were a constant source of headaches for Andrei Ratiu, the blue-haired marker—a strategy that eventually paid off.
final paragraph of Belgium and Romania
After the break, Valentin Mihaila broke through the middle of the pitch with Romania about to produce a lightning start of their own, only to fire over.
Belgium soon turned the screw as De Bruyne began to stamp both his class and authority all over proceedings. First he wrapped the ball inches wide from 20 yards before stinging the palms of Nita. Then, Doku nearly tapped home De Bruyne’s low drive across the face of goal as Manchester City’s midfield marvel started to go through the gears.
