Euro 2024: Belgium open account with 2-0 win over Romania
What's the story
After suffering a stunning 1-0 defeat against Slovakia in their 2024 European Championship opener, Belgium opened their account with a 2-0 win over Romania.
This was massive three points for the Belgian side in Group E. Notably, all four of Belgium, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine have three points each after two matches.
Goals from Youri Tielemans and Kevin De Bruyne helped Belgium win.
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Here are the match stats
Belgium made 20 attempts with nine shots on target. Romania had five shots on target from 14 attempts. Belgium had 56% ball possession and an 84% pass accuracy. Belgium had 1.80 expected goals and 41 touches in the opposition box.
De Bruyne
De Bruyne nets his 28th goal for Belgium
De Bruyne earned his 103rd cap for Belgium. He now owns 28 goals. This was his fourth goal at major tournaments (FIFA World Cup and Euros).
KDB has now been involved in 13 goals at major tournamanets.
This is the joint-most for Belgium at Euros and World Cup since KDB's first appearance at a major tournament in 2014 alongside Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard.
Tielemans
Tielemans attains these feats
Tielemans scored his 8th goal for Belgium in 69 appearances. As per Squawka, Tielemans is the first Aston Villa player to score at the Euros since Marcus Allback for Sweden against Bulgaria in 2004.
Meanwhile, his strike was the 15th goal from outside the box at Euro 2024.
Tielemans' goal after 73 seconds is Belgium's earliest ever in a match at a major tournament.
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Key details from the two teams' H2H record
As per Opta, this was the 13th meeting between the two sides across competitions. Belgium now own a 6-5 win-loss record (D2). Before this result, Belgium's last victory against Romania was back in 2011. Belgium and Romania met for the 1st time at major tournaments.
Summary
Belgium dominate the show, win 2-0
It was a deserved win for Belgium. It was a really solid performance with Lukaku playing a huge role in the game. He played his part in both goals.
Belgium were rewarded after 73 seconds, as Tielemans blasted home Lukaku's lay-off from the edge of the area.
Despite dominating the game, Belgium had to wait for the second goal. De Bruyne scored eventually (79').
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Lukaku denied a goal for the 3rd time
For the third time this tournament, Lukaku was denied a goal via the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). The prolific striker was penalized for a marginal offside call after latching onto De Bruyne's pass.