As you know, Belgium faced Ukraine this Wednesday as part of the third day of the group stages of Euro 2024. The Red Devils were booed after a draw which was nevertheless synonymous with qualification. Emiliano Bonfigli was in the stadium for RTL info, he talks about his experience in Bel RTL Soir.
How did you experience this moment?
I experienced it with great astonishment, because I didn’t expect so many whistles. During the match there were a few boos and a few whistles, when Belgium played a corner backwards, when Romelu Lukaku was taken out by Domenico Tedesco, but as many whistles when Belgium finally validated his qualification for the round of 16 was quite astonishing.
And then what was surprising was also to see the players who first go towards the supporters and then who are called back by their captain Kevin De Bruyne to say no, no, finally, we go back to the locker room, we don’t greet not the fans. It’s the first time I’ve seen this at the national team level and especially when they qualify.
What also struck me were the words of the supporters afterwards, in the stadium or on social networks, we saw images where a supporter even burned the Belgian team’s jersey. I think that there, however, we crossed certain limits.
It’s not just the fans, we also saw Domenico Tedesco annoyed at the end of the match.
It’s true that at one point, at the end of the match, he also calls his players back. They form a circle in the middle of the pitch where there is Kevin De Bruyne who first says a word, who says we’re going to win this next match against France. And you have Domenico Tedesco who starts a speech and then he realizes that there is a cameraman who is almost in the circle. There, he stops his speech, he goes towards the cameraman, he makes a little gesture with his hand to say a private moment please. We feel that he is a little, a little tense.
There is this match tension because there was a lot of tension during the match, linked to the uncertainty of the qualification result. It was 0-0 and Belgium, if they conceded, they would have been out. They would have been fourth and eliminated. So, there you go, there is tension that was expressed like that and then maybe he wants to send messages to players and he also doesn’t want it to be revealed in the press or on social media.
This is not the first time we have talked about supporters. Can we understand this annoyance on the part of everyone, and the disappointment too?
As Thomas Meunier said today at a press conference, the disappointment is understandable. A few whistles, a few boos, it’s understandable. But it was disproportionate because there were words, there were gestures, there were attitudes. A few weeks ago, we spoke here in the studio about David Goffin who had received a spat at Roland-Garros. We have the impression that ultimately, sports stadiums are arenas that serve as a bit of a release. There is a pack effect too. At some point, there are behaviors that gradually become unacceptable.
euro 2024 Red Devils whistles
