June 23 – Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco is not worried by his side’s profligacy in front of goal at Euro 2024, and is keeping faith in Romelu Lukaku to come good.
Belgium have scored two goals in 180 minutes of football at the tournament and Lukaku has three times had a goal ruled out, including during the team’s 2-0 victory against Romania which put Belgium’s campaign back on track.
However, the side has been wasteful in front of goal, something Tedesco admits needs improvement, but doesn’t attribute to one particular factor.
“It’s a pity because if you see the quantity and the quality of the chances we created in both games, now having scored two games or two goals out of these two games, it’s a bit too little,” said Tedesco. “Of course, it wouldn’t be three points, but scoring 4 or 5 goals tonight, I think it was possible. It’s already fantastic that we create this kind of chances for the patient. It’s very important, but we have to kill the game earlier for sure.”
“The first match was bad luck, the offside and handball. Romelu scored three times and it was disallowed three times…,” continued Tedesco. “Sometimes the goalkeeper was great too, or the defender was in between with a last tackle. It’s a bit of everything.”
His country’s record goal scorer, Lukaku provided the assist for Youri Tielemans’s opening strike, the first goal Belgium scored in four matches at a major finals.
Lukaku has often been criticised for not delivering at crucial junctions or against heavyweight opposition. During the rest of Belgium’s campaign in Germany, all eyes will still be on him.
“But Romelu is not frustrated because he does not score,” said Kevin De Bruyne. “He plays strong, he has only been unlucky that his goals were disallowed or stopped by the goalkeeper.”
“My personal performance was not important,” continued De Bruyne. “My job is to energise the young boys. I try to pass on my knowledge because there comes a time when I stop, when the youngsters have to take over. That is not to say that this is my last tournament. I haven’t thought about that yet.”
Belgium wrap up their group stage with a crunch game against Ukraine. Tedesco’s team need a result to advance to the last 16.
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