Belgium back on track with victory against Romania
Goals from Youri Tielemans and former Wolfsburg star Kevin De Bruyne helped Belgium to a first win at Euro 2024, with vanquished Romania also left cursing Wolves' goalkeeper Koen Casteels in Cologne.
Belgium 2-0 Romania
Goals: 1-0 Tielemans 2’ (assist: Lukaku), 2-0 De Bruyne 80' (assist: Casteels)
A cauldron of colour greeted these teams in Cologne, with Belgium hoping to make hay in the carnival atmosphere having surprisingly lost their Group E opener against Slovakia. Indeed, it took the Red Devils all of two minutes to break Romania's timid resistance, Youri Tielemans' first-time effort from Romelu Lukaku's lay-off flying past Florin Niță to send the Red Devils' contingent into raptures. The former Schalke and Leipzig coach Domenico Tedesco set his Belgium side up in an attacking 3-4-3 formation yet despite them dominating the remainder of the first half, they failed to find a second against a largely untroubled Niță. Romania enjoyed a 3-0 win against Ukraine in their opener and they started the second half brightly, with Dennis Man and Valentin Mihăilă spurning chances. Lukaku then had a goal ruled out for offside while at the other end, Wolfsburg's Casteels made a crucial save to deny Man. The custodian would have one more big part to play, with a long punt upfield landing perfectly for former Wolfsburg man Kevin De Bruyne, who slid home to reignite Belgium's tournament.
Watch: the best of Wolfsburg and Belgium's Koen Casteels
Related news
Matchday 6 teams
What options do Bayern have to replace the injured Jamal Musiala for their trip to Frankfurt?
Wind continues bizarre penalty trend
The Denmark international has missed all three of the penalties he has taken for Wolfsburg, but has scored the rebound on each occasion.
Burkardt shining for Mainz
The 24-year-old continues to impress and is rubbing shoulders with some elite names in the top scorers' chart.