Only a few hours left before the round of 16 match between France and Belgium. Many of our players are well known to our neighbours.
In the Jupiler Pro League, the most represented nationality behind the Belgian players was once again France this season: our neighbours placed 28 players in D1A, against 20 in Japan or 12 in Denmark, the closest pursuers in this area. Conversely, the French championship also counts a lot for Belgian players.
If we focus on the core of the Red Devilswe thus realize that eleven players have passed (or are still playing in Ligue 1). That is almost half of the names called up by Tedesco. Going into a little more detail, it appears that the French championship has proven to be a great springboard.
Ligue 1, the ideal championship to continue growing?
For almost all the Devils involved, the move to France was either a first experience abroad or an opportunity to take a step up a level. Better yet, these eleven players could form a relatively homogeneous team.
Goalkeeper and defense: Sels (six full seasons in Strasbourg); Meunier (first experience abroad at PSG), Faes (his time at Reims opened the doors to England for him), Carrasco (revealed at Monaco).
Midfielder : Onana (his season at Lille earned him a transfer to Everton), Mangala (arrived at Lyon last winter)
Attack : Lukebakio (Anderlecht had loaned him to Toulouse, his first experience abroad), Tissue (Rennes was a good intermediate step between Anderlecht and Manchester City), Openda (a season at Lens to confirm his Eredivisie statistics and then go to Leipzig).
Who knows, it might still help French commentators pronounce some of our players’ names correctly…
