Berlin (dpa)
An early final tomorrow, Monday, in Dusseldorf, between the French national team and its Belgian counterpart, in the round of sixteen of the European Nations Cup (Euro 2024) in Germany.
Before the start of the tournament, both teams were strong contenders for the continental title, but they barely managed to reach the knockout stages. France came second in Group D behind Austria after collecting five points from one win and two draws. Belgium collected four points from one win, one defeat and one draw to finish second in Group E, ahead of Ukraine, who came in last place on goal difference. France started their tournament campaign with a 1-0 win over Austria, then drew 0-0 with the Netherlands, before concluding their group stage campaign with a 1-1 draw with Poland.
As for the Belgium national team, it began its campaign with a sudden loss to Slovakia with a goal, then won over Romania with two unanswered goals before drawing 0-0 with Ukraine.
The match witnesses a special kind of confrontation between Kylian Mbappé, the France national team striker who recently transferred to Real Madrid, and Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgium captain and the distinguished playmaker in Manchester City, England.
On paper, the “Duke France” team appears to be the favorite to win, having won all four direct matches in the major tournaments against Belgium, including an unanswered goal victory in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and a sweeping 5-0 victory in the group stage of Euro 1984 before. Winning the title in both tournaments.
Like France, Belgium have yet to score from an organised attack in their 270 minutes of action so far, with their only goal coming from a penalty kick by Kylian Mbappe in a 1-1 draw with Poland, after Les Bleus’ first goal came from friendly fire and was scored by Maximilian Wober inadvertently into Austria’s net.
Belgium scored through Youri Tielemans and De Bruyne in a 2-0 win over Romania but striker Romelu Lukaku had three goals disallowed, including one in the goalless draw with Ukraine, as the team were booed by their own fans in Stuttgart.
Mbappe is preparing to participate from the beginning against Belgium, as he did against Poland, after recovering from a broken nose, while continuing to wear a face mask.
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