The Red Devils suffered a painful defeat against Israel on Sunday evening. Belgium seems to have hit rock bottom, at least for many… but not for Dodi Lukebakio, who did not understand why Gilles De Bilde felt that the Devils’ performance had not been good.
The Devils missed out, against Israel. Certainly, Belgium finished in 3rd place in its Nations League group, but all observers and supporters were waiting for a reaction after the defeat against Italy… and it never came.
“What do you mean, it wasn’t good enough?” was Dodi Lukebakio’s first reaction to Gilles de Bilde’s microphone, in the interview for the television channel VTM. The former Devil tried to explain to him… in vain, obviously.
“I don’t think so. You know, my problem is that we’re too negative in this country. I really have a big problem with that. We need to support each other, but we’re too negative. My feeling is that It happens because we are still so much compared to the previous generation.”
According to Lukebakio, the Devils delivered a good performance against Israel…
“There are a lot of injuries, we are trying to do our best. We had chances, which we didn’t take, then we made a mistake. It’s a problem, but we have to continue positively. We “We’re not qualified for the rest of the Nations League, that’s how it is, we have to keep moving forward.”
A surprisingly positive reaction compared to the result and the performance delivered by the Devils. Belgium, sixth in the FIFA rankings, was still beaten by Israel and its 81st place. “We made a mistake, it’s not like they won by dominating and deserving their victory.”
“It could have been better, but who said it would be easy against Israel? We are building with this new generation, such defeats are part of the process, they will make us stronger. We just have to give ourselves time,” concluded Dodi Lukebakio. Of course…
