If the French team does not seem to be at the top of its game before the round of 16 of Euro 2024 against Belgium (Monday, 6 p.m.), the Red Devils suffered whistles from their own supporters this Wednesday.
Surprising images. Despite qualifying for the round of 16 of Euro 2024, where it will face France on Monday July 1, Belgium’s performance against Ukraine this Wednesday (0-0) was not at all appreciated by the supporters of the Red Devils, who whistled a lot at the players, especially when they were about to approach them, after the end of the match in Stuttgart.
Captain Kevin de Bruyne therefore ordered his players to turn around and not go greet the Belgian fans, which increased the whistles from the reserved stand even more. Some players made a small wave to the public from afar, and De Bruyne then brought together staff and players for a short speech. A meeting during which coach Domenico Tedesco appeared very agitated, chasing away a camera that wanted to capture the sequence.
Tedesco has no “message” for the public
The Italian-German coach also said he was “surprised” by the whistles from his supporters. The Red Devils are ready to “compete with any team,” he assured. “I’m surprised, because it was really important for us to qualify,” Tedesco reacted at a press conference. “We really tried everything to win, we could have scored, so I can’t be disappointed. (…) It’s a big surprise… It’s not like I took Doku off to bring a defender on.”
Tedesco assured that he had no “message” to send to his fans, only believing that he “needed their support”. Criticised when his men clearly sought to gain time rather than go for first place, the coach summed up the situation by assuming a “clear management of the match”: “If we conceded a goal, we were eliminated, we wanted to avoid that”, he explained.
“We can compete with any team. It’s for these kinds of matches that we qualified for this competition,” he added about the round of 16 against France. “We are ready and we are going to win.”
De Bruyne: “Sometimes you have to be smart”
Playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, voted man of the match, also responded to the criticism. “We tried to win the match. (…) Until the 90th minute we tried to find solutions, Yannick (Carrasco) made two shots, Ukraine had a good chance, maybe two , so we had to not take any risks,” said the Manchester City player.
“I can understand that people want us to win and finish first, but for example if I take the corner and we go a goal behind everyone will kill me. Sometimes you have to be smart” , he detailed. De Bruyne repeated that the Red Devils will “need” their fans against France in the round of 16, without knowing “what to add”.
