Romelu Lukaku cheered. And cheered. And cheered. All the players of the Belgian national football team, including those who were still or already on the bench in the second European Championship match against Romania, rushed to their attacker, many of them performing an individual ceremony. In the first group match, Lukaku had two goals disallowed after video review, he had also missed several great chances and had become the tragic hero in the surprising 0:1 defeat against Slovakia. Now the spell had finally been broken.
At least that’s how it seemed for a good minute. Then the video referee called in again. A little later, a display showed that this time it was Lukaku’s shoulder that was about a centimeter offside shortly before the goal. It was one of those moments when a football match can take on an almost tragic tone.
Luckily for Lukaku and especially Belgium, that was not the case on this day. The lead through an early goal by Youri Tielemans (2nd) held, and Kevin DeBruyne (78th) even increased the lead to 2-0. And because each of the four teams now has three points, Group E is now the most exciting of this European Championship ahead of the last preliminary round matchday on Wednesday.
Striker in bad luck: Romelu LukakuAFP
Despite everything, the situation remains dangerous for the Belgians. They had lost the label of dark horse favorites that they had been carrying around with them for almost a decade before this year’s tournament. But on Saturday evening in Cologne it was once again clear how much class and potential this team actually has. In a game that was at times thrilling, they passed a real tough test against Romania with flying colors. An exit in the preliminary round would therefore be a huge disappointment for the German coach Domenico Tedesco.
The whole stadium was jumping, dancing and singing
The feeling that this was going to be a particularly atmospheric European Championship evening had already set in before kick-off. The stadium management first delighted the Belgian fans with the old 90s techno catchy tune “Freed from Desire”, which they have declared to be one of their anthems. And the Romanians, who had just gone out of their way to disrupt the reading of the Belgian starting line-up with a chorus of whistles, couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement. And so the whole stadium was soon jumping, dancing and singing. Even before the ball had even rolled.
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When he did so a little later, it seemed as though the sheer joy of the game and everything that went on in the stands had been transferred to the pitch. Here too, it was the Belgians who started furiously and, in a way, swept Romania along with them. Jeremy Doku played the ball to Lukaku in the box, who skilfully shielded the ball with his colossal body and then cleverly passed it back to Tielemans, who scored from the edge of the box to take the lead. On the other side of the pitch, Radu Dragusin headed powerfully towards goal just two minutes later. Belgium goalkeeper Koen Casteels reacted brilliantly.
Four substitutions and tactical changes
Tedesco had intervened quite radically after the disappointing performance against Slovakia and made four substitutions and a few tactical changes compared to the first group match. The 37-year-old central defender Jan Vertonghen and full-back Arthur Theate moved into the defensive line, Tielemans started in central midfield, with him and captain Kevin DeBruyne covered by defensive midfielder Amadou Onana. And Dodi Lukebakio, who once played for Fortuna Düsseldorf, VfL Wolfsburg and Hertha BSC in Germany, started up front in place of Leandro Trossard from Arsenal FC, who was unlucky in the first match.
What remained the same: The Belgians also created a number of chances against Romania. Lukaku (13th) missed the first, Lukebakio missed the next (18th) after a fine solo run by DeBruyne. Then Doku (31st) from a tight angle and Lukebakio (33rd) again had dangerous shots. Romania, meanwhile, were clearly inferior in terms of play, but at least kept up in terms of intensity. Also because the fans, who set the tone in the stands, loudly encouraged them as soon as they showed even the slightest hint of an offensive move.
All of this led to the next big scoring opportunities – apart from a header after a corner (41st minute) – only at the beginning of the second half. But then the Romanians had their best scoring opportunity to date through Valentin Mihaila (47th minute). And because on the other side DeBruyne (51st minute) shot just centimeters wide of the goal, the game had already picked up the pace it had at the beginning. With the well-known phenomenon of Belgium creating chance after chance with footballing class and Romania holding out with impressive emotional force.
DeBruyne (55th) and Doku (62nd) had the next big chances. Then Lukaku scored and was whistled back again while celebrating (65th). Just a minute later, Lukaku had the chance to finally score his long-awaited first goal of the tournament. But he was stopped by the goalkeeper. On the other side, Dennis Man (68th) almost rewarded Romania’s fighting spirit with the equalizer, but Casteels saved with a brilliant save. When DeBruyne then slotted in after a long ball, Belgium could finally celebrate. The fans in the stands roared with happiness and relief. Only the video referee remained calm this time.
