First-half substitute Thomas Meunier added a cushion for the FIFA top-ranked team, turning dwelling the recoil after Thorgan Hazard ‘s leftist photograph had been turned into his way by Anton Shunin.
Reading: Belgium 3-0 Russia: Romelu Lukaku scores twice in comfortable Euro 2020 victory for Red Devils
With two minutes remaining Lukaku added his irregular – and his 20th in his death 15 competitive internationals – by outpacing defender Igor Diveev from Meunier ‘s pass and beat Shunin with a abject finish. Russia had started the better on home soil but flagged badly after falling behind and failed to use veteran forward Artem Dzyuba ‘s acme to their advantage, as they failed to test Thibaut Courtois throughout and started their Group B campaign with a hard-working but frustrating get the better of.
Player ratings
Belgium: Courtois ( 6 ), Alderweireld ( 7 ), Boyata ( 7 ), Vertonghen ( 6 ), Castagne ( 60, Dendoncker ( 6 ), Tielemans ( 7 ), T Hazard ( 7 ), Mertens ( 7 ), Carrasco ( 6 ), Lukaku ( 8 ).
Subs: Meunier ( 7 ), E Hazard ( 6 ), Vermaelen ( 6 ), Praet ( 6 ).
Russia: Shunin ( 6 ), Fernandes ( 6 ), Semenov ( 5 ), Dzhikija ( 6 ), Zhirkov ( 6 ), Barinov ( 7 ), Ozdoev ( 5 ), Zobnin ( 6 ), Kuzyaev ( 6 ), Golovin ( 6 ), Dzyuba ( 6 ).
Subs: Cheryshev ( 5 ), Karavayev ( 5 ), Diveev ( 5 ), Mukhin ( 5 ), Miranchuk ( 5 ).
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku
How Lukaku spearheaded Belgium to victory in Russia…
officially the off side but play in front man of their home fans in their area ‘s second city, Russia ‘s early intensity and imperativeness rocked Belgium, who took the opening minutes to settle into the game .
image :
Lukaku ‘s two goals made him the 28th-highest scoring men ‘s international football player in history
Lukaku ‘s early goal, fortunate in its nature, settled their nerves with their free-scoring hitter ruled onside after Semyonov ‘s inauspicious touch gave him an open finish from 12 yards. He dedicated his undoer to Inter team-mate Christian Eriksen, who had collapsed in Denmark ‘s frustration to Finland earlier on Saturday. Chances remained at a proportional premium until Hazard, from another defensive mistake, pulled a bright save from Shunin at his near post with a low feat from wide. The Dortmund winger forced the goalkeeper into military action again 11 minutes before half-time, but this time palmed the testis straight at Meunier, who pounced on the loose musket ball to double Belgium ‘s precede.
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Russia had little to offer to test the Belgium defense once they got to grips with the frame of Dzyuba, but Mario Fernandes should have done more to test Courtois from a corner. The moment half became slightly of a non-event thanks to Belgium ‘s comfortable lead and little to trouble oneself them from Russia ‘s perspective, but in the final minutes they added to their advantage to equal the scoreline from Italy ‘s impressive open victory against Turkey. Meunier ‘s finely threaded ball from midfield saw Lukaku show his pace to beat Diveev in a foot subspecies and open fire past Shunin from inside the box to secure a scoreline which matched Belgium ‘s exalted expectations – for their opening game, at least .
What the managers said…
Belgium coach Roberto Martinez : “ Thomas Meunier was impressive. It ‘s never easy to start a tournament, there ‘s a psychological and emotional component, and it ‘s even harder as a substitute. The role of Thomas as a team-mate to Castagne was exemplary, and then the way he was focused and contributed to the victory was a real example for us. “ That ‘s the quality of this group – it ‘s a group of people who actually care for each other, understand the roles and take what is needed for the team. I was extremely gallant in the way Meunier gave us a manner to do that. ” On christian Eriksen : “ There was real number gloominess, we were watching it live, and then in the following five minutes we were going to our team meeting. As you can imagine, the last thing we wanted to talk was about football. There was a very jolt, gloominess, there were tears, we have a fortune of team-mates in our dress board who have shared boastfully moments with Christian. “ It ‘s a very sense of traumatize, so we could only send our prayers to Christian, and it was better news when we saw his recovery. Our wishes from our team and everyone in Belgium is to Christian, his kin and the solid Denmark team because it was a very bully here and now in St Petersburg – so I can only imagine how it was in Copenhagen. ” Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov : “ There ‘s not much to say about the result. We started the plot as we were planning to, playing in a very compact way. The foremost goal affected the way the bet on followed, and the moral of our team which I did n’t like. “ We made some changes in the second half and played in a more compendious way, but we could not create as many moments as we would like. There were a few which could have ended in a goal but Belgium actually covered all the moments and did not let us play at all. ”
Man of the match – Romelu Lukaku
When his team needs him, he delivers. belgium probably would have found a room to win anyhow but his early goal set them on their way after a low-key depart in what was efficaciously an away game for the Red Devils. His moment goal was a different kind of hit – using his tempo and composure to add Belgium ‘s third base of the night, in a game where he stole the express .
Match stats
- Belgium are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions (W8 D2) and have suffered just one defeat in their last 24 internationals (W20 D3), via a 1-2 loss to England in the UEFA Nations League in October 2020.
- Russia have lost four of their last six competitive games (W2) after losing just one of their 13 before that (W10 D2).
- None of Belgium’s last 13 games at the European Championships have ended in a draw (W6 L7), a run which started in the 1980 final (1-2 vs West Germany).
- Yuri Zhirkov (37y 296d) became the oldest player ever to play for Russia at the European Championships, overtaking Sergei Ignashevich from 2016 (36y 342d v Wales).
- Romelu Lukaku has been directly involved in 26 goals in his last 19 appearances for Belgium in all competitions, scoring 22 and assisting four.
- Eight of Romelu Lukaku’s nine goals at major tournaments (World Cup & European Championships) for Belgium have come in the group stages.
- Thomas Meunier has been directly involved in four goals in his last three appearances for Belgium in competitive games (1 goal, 3 assists), after managing just one goal and no assists in his nine before that.
What’s next?
russia are the first of these two sides to play again, facing Finland in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday ( kick-off 2pm ), Belgium travel to Copenhagen to play Denmark ( kick-off 5pm ).