Belgium will face France in the Euro 2024 last 16 after finishing second in Group E following a goalless draw against Ukraine.
All four teams earned the same amount of points, with Romania finishing top on goals scored as Belgium stumbled into the knockout phase having lost their opening game 1-0 to Slovakia.
The Red Devils failed to build on their 2-0 victory over Romania while Ukraine couldn’t find a crucial goal to turn the group on its head, finishing bottom and becoming the first team to exit the group stage with four points since the tournament was expanded.
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Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium lacked a cutting edge despite the best efforts of Kevin De Bruyne and only created one significant moment. De Bruyne played in Romelu Lukaku with a smart pass but he could not make proper contact with his shot which was kept out by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Team news:
Ukraine benched Oleksandr Zinchenko and Andriy Yarmolenko while Mykhailo Mudryk was not in the squad due to injury.
Oleksandr Svatok, Vitali Mykolenko, and Roman Yaremchuk came into the starting XI as the three changes from their 2-1 win over Slovakia.
Leandro Trossard replaced the suspended Dodi Lukebakio for Belgium as the only change from their 2-0 win over Romania.
Ukraine were more dangerous, with Georgiy Sudakov’s stretching effort straight at goalkeeper Koen Casteels while Roman Yaremchuk inexplicably tried to pass across goal when he was in a seemingly better position to shoot.
Belgium had better control in the second half yet dropped off in the final 10 minutes. Ukraine’s Ruslan Malinovskyi almost caught Casteels out from a corner, whipping an effort to the near post which the goalkeeper parried away on the goalline.
Sudakob could have won it late on and sent Belgium home in the process but he shot straight at Casteels after a driving run.
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What they said…
Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco on facing France:
“We go to win. We will face a top team and this is the reason why we qualified – otherwise we could have stayed at home.
“These are the games we are looking for, we can challenge everybody. I think we are ready, we are really ready.”
Ukraine manager Serhiy Rebrov said:
“We showed the character of our people. We need the support of Europe and we are part of Europe. It is very important for us to be represented here.
“Unfortunately we didn’t do well. This is like in life, you make some mistakes and then it’s very important how you react. I think we reacted well.
“We are very proud of the players. Everyone in Ukraine is unhappy with the score but there are no question marks for the players.
“It’s very important to show that we are still alive, we are still fighting and we will not stop.”
Stats: Story of the match
Group E final results…
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