Belgium have suffered a shock defeat in their Euro 2024 opener against Slovakia, MySportDab reports.
The Red Devils went into the game as favourites with their star-studded side. They dominated proceedings from the start and were looking set to draw the first blood before Slovakia dealt them a heavy blow against the run of play.
Reeling under pressure, the Slovaks, dropped deeper to low blocks and waited patiently to catch out the dominant opponents on the counter.
With just 39% of the ball possession, it took the Slovakians a 7th-minute clear chance to do the damage.
A shambolic display saw Jeremy Doku lose the ball cheaply for Schantz. Schantz then threaded it to Bozenik, who fired straight on goal. Belgian goalkeeper Casteel parried it away but the rebound fell in a platter for Schantz again to fire it into the empty net.
It was an unlikely lead for the Slovaks. Belgium ramped up the pressure after conceding but failed to find the back of the net. They headed into the break trailing by a lone goal.
In the second half, Belgium thought they had found an equaliser when Romelu Lukaku got one back for the Red Devils after Leandro Trossard’s cross but the goal was chalked off as offside after VAR check much to the relief of Slovakia.
Two minutes from regulation time, the Red Devils got another goal. It was Lukaku again with the goal but it was chalked off again for an alleged handball by Openda in the build-up.
It was a nightmare kick-off for the Belgians as they collapsed to a shock 1-0 defeat to Slovakia after the final whistle, no thanks to two VAR interventions.
Slovakia will hope to build on the enormous win in their next match against Ukraine while Belgium will hope to recover from the loss when they take on Romania.
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