Belgium lost to Italy this Thursday evening in the Nations League. Insipid in the first half, the Red Devils raised their heads a little in the second half, without succeeding in finding the fault.
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Belgium – Italy, live
90′
It’s over
The Red Devils bow and head towards the play-offs in the Nations League. Thank you for following this live.
82′
THE POST
It’s getting closer! On a two-played corner, Trossard crosses towards Faes who deflects blindly, but his head hits the post. Things are heating up in front of the Italian goal
78′
LUKAKU
On a deflected cross from Castgane, Lukaku heads back but his delivery goes just wide of the post! This is the biggest Belgian opportunity since the start of this match.
71′
Change for Belgium
Engels is replaced by Vermeeren, Theate by Al Dakhil.
68′
Changes for Italy
Retegui and Dimarco give way to Kean and Udogie, still no change on the Red Devils side.
64′
Trossard!
The Gunner traps the Italian midfielder with a superb oriented control, jumps for Lukaku but the control of our striker is not good. Too bad, there was a real card to play for our Red Devils.
54′
Big opportunities for Italy
Debast misjudges the trajectory of the ball and lets Retegui go to goal, but Casteels intervenes.
On the following action, Belgium is unable to break free and without saving interventions from Theate and Debast, it is 0-2.
50′
It’s better
Belgium puts more pace, and it pays off. This time, it’s Trossard who strikes, but it goes over the Italian goals.
49′
First shot on target
Debast tries his luck from afar, his shot is not bad, but it is not enough to deceive Donnarumma.
45′
Here we go for the second half
Completely in the west in the first half, the Red Devils have 45 minutes to show another face.
45′
A little optimism?
After such a first half, let’s look on the bright side: it’s “only” 0-1.
45′
A unanimous observation
45′
It’s the break!
Catastrophic first half for our Red Devils. Will the 15 minutes of the break be enough to make all the necessary changes? We hope so!
44′
It’s too easy for Italy
The Italians create the gap on the left side after a magnificent pass from Barella with the outside of the foot. Already the author of the first goal, Tonali is this time blocked just before hitting. It was hot in the Belgian rectangle.
40′
It’s calm, very calm
One thing is certain, the system put in place by Domenico Tedesco does not work, the Italians get out of the Belgian “dry cleaning” too easily. We will have to change that at the break!
30′
Finally a little danger
Good first Belgian sequence, after 30 minutes of play. No big chances to report, but finally a little presence at the entrance to the opposing rectangle.
20′
The ball for Belgium but…
The Red Devils cannot find themselves, and therefore fail to create chances.
17′
A bad start to the match
The start of the Red Devils match will not reassure the supporters…
10′
BUT
De Cuyper completely missed his intervention and allowed Tonali to open the scoring after only 10 minutes of play. We will have to react!
4′
The first observations
It is Debast who takes the center of the defense, Theate is shifted to the left, Faes to the right. Another important point, our attacking trio seems to be playing in a losing line with Trossard on the left and, for the moment, Lukaku on the right.
0′
Here we go!
Good match to all!
20h43
The hymns ring out
The Italians make their fervor heard, the Belgian supporters stand up!
20h38
The tension rises
20h22
Devils in Red tonight
Belgium will play with its “home” jersey this Thursday evening at the King Baudouin stadium.
20h10
Lavia on the bench, just like Mangala
The Chelsea midfielder will start on the bench, having been delighted to be back with the national team after numerous injuries.
19h57
The justifications of Domenico Tedesco
The coach specifies that, according to him, all the players are in their best position. Regarding Arne Engels, Tedesco explains that the midfielder is in very good form at Celtic.
19h44
The Italian eleven
Here are Spalletti’s choices for this match against our Red Devils.
19h36
The Compo des Diables
We will probably play with 5 defenders this Thursday evening. Tedesco trusts Engels in midfield.
7:30 p.m.
Good evening everyone!
Welcome to this live to experience, together, this clash between Italy and Belgium.
The compositions
Belgium: Casteels, Theate, Faes, Debast, Castagne, De Cuyper, Engels, Onana, Trossard, Openda, Lukaku
Italy: Donnarumma, Bastoni, Buongiorno, Di Lorenzo, Dimarco, Tonali, Rovella, Frattesi, Cambiaso, Barella, Retegui
Before the match
Italy, leader of its group and trying to emerge from a long slump, only needs one point to secure its ticket for the quarter-finals of the League of Nations against a Belgium team in full swing. experimental phase, Thursday in Brussels.
For Belgium, 3rd with four points (behind France, 9 pts), there is no longer any choice to hope to finish second and therefore appear in the quarterfinals: they will have to win. But the hope of qualification is slim as the Red Devils are not in control of their fate while they are also slow to rebuild a competitive team.
Undefeated since its defeat at Euro 2024 in Germany where it ceded its continental title in the round of 16 against Switzerland (2-0), Italy, deprived of the last two World Cups, seems little by little to be recovering. get back on track, symbolized in particular by a victory in France (3-1) during the first day of competition at the beginning of September.
One point will be enough for Brussels. But his coach Luciano Spalletti has already warned that he will not make any calculations and that he will not be satisfied with a draw against the Belgians or France three days later in Milan. “It seems easy, a point to take, but that will not be our way of thinking. If we approach these matches thinking only about that point, we will be wrong. These are going to be difficult matches, we cannot be presumptuous,” he explained at a press conference.
Uncertain potential
Although he will be deprived of one of the revelations of the start of the season, Torino midfielder Samuele Ricci, injured, Spalletti can count on two particularly fit attackers, Mateo Retegui (Atalanta) and Moise Kean (Fiorentina), up front of the scorers’ rankings in Serie A with eleven and eight goals respectively.
His alter ego Domenico Tedesco has none for certainties. The Italian-German coach of Belgium is faced with a monumental reconstruction operation after the gradual withdrawal of most of the executives of the so-called “golden” generation (3rd in the 2018 World Cup) and the injuries of certain others. Since taking office eighteen months ago, Tedesco has called up no less than 53 different players, a sign of real trial and error.
Given the injury to Kevin De Bruyne and the prolonged sulking of Thibaut Courtois, only Romelu Lukaku will appear as a glorious elder on Thursday, to try to guide a new generation whose true potential observers are slow to assess. If the attack remains a source of hope (with the Doku, absent Thursday, Bakayoko, Duranville, Openda, Trossard, and others De Ketelaere), if the midfield is rebuilt around Onana, Tielemans and soon Lavia, the defense It remains a worrying project.
The days of Kompany, Vertonghen, Alderweireld and Vermaelen seem far away when we compare their pedigree with their current successors, the Fae, Debast and Theate. And with this in mind, Thursday’s duel at the King Baudouin stadium will be an interesting test.
Belgium Italy Direct Live Tedesco Engels composition Red Devils
