5 Belgium players who underperformed against France | UEFA Nations League semi-final
The second semi-final of the UEFA Nations League saw Eden Hazard’s Belgium play Hugo Lloris’ France at a neutral venue on Thursday night.
At the Juventus Stadium, the two teams wasted no time measuring each other up, creating respectable chances right from the get-go. While Belgium banked on Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku to breach France's defense, Les Bleus put their faith in Kylian Mbappe’s blistering pace.
In the 37th minute, Belgium got the goal they were looking for. Helped by Jules Kounde’s deflection, Yannick Carrasco’s optimistic strike wrong-footed Hugo Lloris to put the Red Devils ahead. Three minutes later, Lukaku dummied Theo Hernandez and put a blistering shot past Lloris to double Belgium's lead.
Surprisingly, Belgium decided to guard their lead instead of extending it in the second half, thus inviting pressure from the World champions. Karim Benzema sprung to life in the 62nd minute, conjuring France’s opener out of nothing. Seven minutes later, Mbappe dispatched an unsavable strike from the penalty spot to level the proceedings.
Finally, in the 90th minute, left-back Theo Hernandez hit a scorcher to win the game for France and set up the finale with Spain on Sunday.
Allowing France to overturn a two-goal deficit was unforgivable and pretty much every Belgian player would be kicking themselves. Still, from where we were sitting, some players looked to be a little more responsible for the defeat than others.
Here are the five Belgium players who underperformed against France in the second UEFA Nations League semi-final.
#5 Timothy Castagne
Leicester City midfielder Timothy Castagne was picked by Belgium coach Roberto Martinez to provide width in the UEFA Nations League semi-final against France. He danced down the right-hand channel in the first half, but went AWOL in the second. He was caught out of possession a couple of times and could have paid dearly had France been more clinical.
Tielemans, Castagne, Vertonghen and Alderweireld tonight vs France https://t.co/VdRS30aNk1
Truth be told, Castagne did not do much wrong, or right, in the second UEFA Nations League semi-final. However, when you are representing your country against the World champions, you ought to bring more to the table. The right wing-back could not quite manage to fill in for the brilliant Thorgan Hazard.
#4 Youri Tielemans
Youri Tielemans is a capable midfielder on his day, giving his team a good blend of attack and defense. Unfortunately, he endured one of his worst outings in a Belgium shirt in the UEFA Nations League semi-final on Thursday night in Turin.
After a decent first half, he struggled to impose his authority in the second 45. He was completely outplayed by Paul Pogba and could do nothing to stop France’s turnaround.
Belgium and Leicester have both bottled 2-0 leads recently
Maybe it’s Tielemans that’s the problem😭
To top it off, he brought down Antoine Griezmann in the 66th minute to give away a penalty. Mbappe converted it emphatically to level the game for France.