The Red Devils will play their second match at this European Championship on Saturday, June 22, at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne against Romania. Belgium has a good chance to become the group winner in Group E but must first get past Ukraine, Slovakia, and therefore Romania. Read all about it in this article.
Belgium – Romania
The Red Devils first played against the Romanians on June 10, 1937. The friendly match in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, ended 2-1 in favor of Romania. The Belgians have played a total of 12 times against Romania, with both teams winning 5 times and 2 matches ending in a draw.
The last encounter was also a friendly match on November 14, 2012. Romania won again with a score of 2-1. The goalscorers were Alexandru Maxim and Gabriel Torje for Romania, and Christian Benteke for Belgium. These three players are not present this time.
Belgium
After a somewhat disappointing World Cup in Qatar, Belgium wants to perform well again. They emerged as group winners in the qualifiers and then also won against Serbia, Montenegro, and Luxembourg. The Red Devils also drew against Ireland and England. This indicates a good form for the Belgians.
On the first matchday, that form seemed to be missing again. In the 7th minute, Slovak Ivan Schranz scored 1-0 after a mistake by Jérémy Doku. The Belgians managed to create some decent chances and had the most possession, but failed to convert those chances.
The midfield was perhaps the most complete with Amadou Onana and Kevin De Bruyne helping each other. Onana was the defensive force and often had the final say in a Slovak attack. De Bruyne was more often the mastermind behind the Belgian attacks. The Manchester City midfielder had a fruitful season at his club, but his passes were not immediately well utilized by the national team.
More was expected from the Doku-Lukaku-Trossard group before the match. To become the top scorer of the European Championship, you need to finish the chances in a legal manner, but Romelu Lukaku was sometimes unlucky with a handball or offside. There were also many chances that he would normally score on a good day. Jérémy Doku and Leandro Trossard performed well throughout the match with occasional flashes of brilliance, but it was often just not good enough.
Romania
After missing three major tournaments, Romania is participating in an important tournament again. The last time they participated was the European Championship in 2016, but they were quickly eliminated. After losing to France and drawing with Switzerland, both decent results, the Romanians also lost the decisive match against Albania.
Romania was very happy with the qualification, and on the first matchday, they immediately showed why they belong. Against the often strong Ukraine, the Romanians won 3-0. Nicolae Stanciu opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark, followed by Razvan Marin and Denis Dragus adding to the tally. Unlike the Belgians, the Romanians started their European Championship on a good note.
The star player for Romania at the moment is Radu Dragusin. He is a defender at Tottenham in the English Premier League and captain of his national team. With a transfer fee of 25 million euros, he became the most expensive Romanian player ever. However, he had to give up some playing time for this: he played almost always at Genoa, but at Tottenham, he has to fight for his place. He comes to the European Championship without much match rhythm, but that seemed fine in the first match.
Another player to watch is Nicolae Stanciu. He opened the scoring against Ukraine but is capable of more. He was predicted a bright future at a young age and signed with Anderlecht, but could not fully develop his talent afterward. He remains important in the team and is world-class when in form.
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