Belgium 2-0 Romania: Tielemans and De Bruyne on target as Red Devils get Euro 2024 campaign back on track
Belgium defeated Romania 2-0 on Saturday thanks to Youri Tielemans' goal at 73 seconds and Kevin De Bruyne's late goal, setting up a final round showdown with all four Group E teams on three points.
It was a Euro 2024 Saturday night special played in an incredible atmosphere in Cologne, with the only mystery being how there were only two goals.
Following Ukraine's 2-1 victory over Slovakia on Friday, all four teams in a group now have the same number of points after two rounds for the first time in European Championship history.
All results are now available for Wednesday's final night, when Belgium play Ukraine and Slovakia play Romania, where four points could be enough to win the group but could also see a team eliminated.
Romania and Belgium have a plus-one goal difference. Slovakia are on zero and Ukraine are on -2 with these goal differences being the deciding factor if both games finish level.
"We were very relieved we won the game, it was very important to get three points," said Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco.
"Romania gave us a bit more space that Slovakia but with the quality and quantity of our chances it would have been good if we could have scored more early on - four or five goals tonight would have been possible."
Belgium, still ranked third in the world by FIFA, were unrecognisable from the sluggish side stunned by Slovakia in their first game, charging forward and full of energy from the start.
It paid off right away, with Romelu Lukaku holding up the ball with his back to goal and rolling it into the path of Tielemans, who drilled home a crisp, low shot.
Romania came close four minutes later with Radu Dragusin's header, which Koen Casteels saved well, but it was only a brief respite as Belgium dominated the first half.
Dodi Lukebakio's fierce shot was well saved by Florin Nita following a trademark carving run by man of the match De Bruyne, while Lukebakio and Amadou Onana both fired wide.
It appeared only a matter of time before they scored again, but Romania weathered the storm and, knowing how devastatingly they struck on the counter to defeat Ukraine, did not panic.
Their fans certainly stayed behind them, contributing to an incredible atmosphere as noise rained down from all four stands.
The Belgian attacks continued, with Jeremy Doku fizzing a cross inches from Lukaku's head, De Bruyne curling just past a post, and Nita smothering another shot.
Lukaku thought he had the second after an hour, slotting home confidently from a De Bruyne through ball, only for VAR to rule it out for offside - just five days after he had two goals disallowed against Slovakia.
The incredible end-to-end action continued with Dennis Man clean through for Romania only to shoot wastefully straight at Casteels, and, amazingly, it was the Belgian keeper who set up the second 10 minutes later with a Sunday league, route one goal.
He launched a goal kick that eluded everyone, and the always-on De Bruyne pounced on it to tuck the ball home for what could be a priceless goal should the calculators be needed to split the teams next week.
Romania, of course, are still hoping to reach the knockout stage for the second time, having failed to qualify for the previous six World Cups following their golden era in the 1990s.
"We had a great start to the tournament, now let's see how we deal with difficulty. We need solidarity and unity because we are still first in the group," their coach Edward Iordanescu said. "It's a most complicated group - a third goal would have been really bad for us."
SportsLigue