Thomas Meunier cannot recover from the concerts of boos and whistles reserved by Belgian supporters for their national team on Wednesday after the draw against Ukraine (0-0). He calls for unity and deplores the treatment reserved for Romelu Lukaku.
Thomas Meunier (32 years old) couldn’t believe it. The Belgian international (66 caps, 8 goals), back in the selection after his right thigh injury in preparation, watched from the stands the sad draw between Belgium and Ukraine (0-0), Wednesday at Euro 2024. And if he believes that his partners could have raised their level of play, he strongly deplored the chorus of boos and whistles addressed by the Belgian supporters to their team when they wanted to head towards them to thank them after the final whistle.
Whistles against Lukaku as a switch
“The Devils went to greet the supporters and turned around because the treatment was quite special,” said the former PSG defender this Thursday at a press conference. The main objective was to qualify, we must not forget that, we did not finish last in the group. (…) “I too would like us to win all our matches 3-0 and to put a statement to say that playing Belgium is not a gift. It is not always possible. I finds it a bit of a shame the disproportionate reactions at the level of supporters and comments We must have a unifying speech. Having sweeping speeches… certain analysts and commentators could ensure that the supporters are more behind it. national team. It has to be constructive otherwise we will not go anywhere. We like to be supported, it is not in the common interest to create tensions.
The Trabzonspor player praises the very high level of the squad in training and calls for unity before the round of 16 against France on Monday (6 p.m.). He claims to understand the anger of the supporters, less the ferocity of his demonstration.
“It’s not that the players didn’t understand but it was disproportionate,” he insists. “For me, indifference creates much more guilt than whistles. I really had the impression that we found ourselves in a repeat case of RWDM relegated with obscene gestures, insults… it went too far and It’s only the beginning of the competition. We are all qualified, them and us. It seemed a bit crazy to me. We can understand that the match did not live up to expectations, for us too. didn’t celebrate the qualification as if we had won 3-0 It was very quiet, it even looked like we had lost. We were as disappointed as them. The fact of traveling, paying for a ticket. offers rights, it’s also sacrifices for them, money and time, but having to drive 6 hours to insult the players, I don’t think that’s a goal that can suit everyone.”
He places the moment of the break between the fans and the group at the 90th minute when Romelu Lukaku was replaced by Loïs Openda. “The problem started when Romelu came out and the fans booed him,” he concluded. “You don’t whistle a guy who is the national team’s top scorer (85 goals in 118 caps) because he has a match where things are going a little less. It’s totally incomprehensible, disproportionate. This fact of the match has instigated unhappiness between the spectators and the team.”
