France Belgium: Live ticker for the Euro 2024 match

Published today at 17:44

Both teams are back on the pitch, there were no substitutions. And so the game continues in Düsseldorf.

No goals in the first 45 minutes. And it’s not easy to say who is closer to the lead. France had the ball more often and had a few good chances with Tchouaméni’s shot and Thuram’s header. But the Belgians also had a strong phase after about 30 minutes.

The “there will definitely be no more goals” curse almost struck again this time: Mbappé breaks through on the left, even though Doku steps on his feet. He then passes the ball back to Tchouaméni, but he aims a little too high. It is the last action of the first half, and the score remains 0-0.

The last few minutes of the first half are running and it doesn’t look like there will be another goal before the break. But I’ve already ticked that a few times in the last few days – and often it only took a few seconds before the bell rang.

What is Kylian Mbappé doing? So far we have only been able to see the French captain perform a nice heel trick, but otherwise he is in good hands with Carrasco and Castagne. He is not a factor in this game at all.

But the best chance of the game now belongs to the French: Koundé with a sharp cross from the right and then Thuram gets the ball perfectly in the middle. The striker is annoyed that he missed the goal, because he knows better than anyone that more would have been possible here.

France had the better start to this game, at least in terms of possession. In the last few minutes, however, the Belgians have become increasingly stronger. De Bruye is now daring to cross the halfway line more often and a lot of the rest is happening on the team’s conspicuous right side. Now all that’s missing are concrete scoring opportunities…

The Belgians are getting better. Openda turns around his opponent and takes a shot. Then Carrasco gets the ball, shoots at a defender and immediately throws both arms in the air: “Handball”! But it wasn’t. The game continues after a quick VAR check.

The next yellow card against France and it has consequences: Rabiot would be banned from a possible quarter-final after his foul on Doku.

Griezmann hits Doku with his sliding tackle, not only causing a free kick, but also receiving his first yellow card at this European Championship. Then De Bruyne sets the ball up and tries to shoot directly. It’s dangerous, but Maignan is able to clear with his foot.

The Belgians’ plan to bring Lukaku and Openda into play with long balls has not worked so far. The French have more of the game and are now at 63 percent possession. However, it must also be said that most of the passes are relatively harmless from right to left – without any real gain in space. And then the only option is a shot from distance, like the one from Rabiot, which flies well over the Belgian goal.

Aurélien Tchouaméni apparently hasn’t yet realized that non-captains aren’t allowed to argue with the referee. He does it anyway – and gets a yellow card. But you have to ask yourself: How did the referee not see that it was actually a corner for France? If only there was a chip in the ball that could prevent such wrong decisions…

Upamecano and Saliba, the French central defenders, are not to be envied today. After all, they are up against Lukaku and Openda, who bring with them a lot of speed and physicality. So far, however, we have not seen much of the Belgian strikers.

The first shot of the game – if you can call it that. Griezmann moves into the middle and shoots from just under 18 meters. Or was it a pass to Thuram? It doesn’t matter, because it was far too harmless to be a shot and far too inaccurate to be an assist.

Kevin de Bruye, in true Toni Kroos style, keeps dropping down next to the two central defenders to get the Belgians playing better. Always nearby, in case he dares to take a few steps forward, is N’Golo Kanté. He has the honorable task of getting on De Bruyne’s nerves today.

A first look at the line-ups shows that UEFA was completely wrong in both cases. The French start in a 4-3-3 with Griezmann, Thuram and Mbappé in the front row. The Belgians are likely to start in a 4-4-2 with the two strikers Lukaku and Openda up front.

The ball is rolling, the round of 16 between France and Belgium has begun.

During the anthem and the team photo, Kylian Mbappé has not yet put on his black face mask. That will probably only happen at the last moment before the referee blows the whistle to start the game.

This is obviously a completely unprofessional diagnosis from a distance, but it looks like there are more Belgian fans in the stadium on TV. That red wall on the right looks impressive.

Both teams are ready in the players’ tunnel. In a few minutes we will hear the two national anthems – and then things can get started in the arena in Düsseldorf.