Belgium kickstarted their Euro 2024 campaign with a 2-0 win over Romania in Cologne.
An early Youri Tielemans opener set the scene for what would be an exhilarating, end-to-end game and there were plenty of chances for both sides.
Following the third-quickest goal in history at the European Championship Belgium continued to push.
Romelu Lukaku had a goal ruled out after being judged to have been offside by the smallest of margins, while the Chelsea striker had two other big chances to score.
Kevin De Bruyne grabbed the only other goal of the game, latching on to a through ball from a goal-kick and slotting home to earn the Red Devils all three points.
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As It Happened
It took just 65 seconds for Belgium to make a statement and open the scoring.
Some great build-up play involving De Bruyne and Lukaku saw the ball fall to Tielemans, who has scored from very similar positions across his career.
The performance we needed. 💪 #BELROU #WirSchaffenDas #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/kM83zvX2A4
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) June 22, 2024
And sure enough, the Aston Villa midfielder struck a sweet strike through the Romania defence and into the back of the net, giving the Red Devils their perfect start.
Lukaku looked like he was on a personal mission to make up for the misses he had against Slovakia and was involved a lot in the first half.
He was using his body well, having the ball played into feet and either laying it back off or turning and trying to get a shot away on goal.
There was an opportunity 13 minutes in where a Romania defender simply bounced off him and his shot on the turn just missed the target.
Dodi Lukebakio, who had been drafted in following their dismal performance in the opening match, then tested goalkeeper Florin Nita with a curling left-footed effort, but it was a good height for the stopper.
With things starting to settle down, Belgium unsurprisingly retained much of the ball and broke into Romania’s box on plenty more occasions.
Jeremy Doku was his usual, speedy self and was more often than not seen running at his man and either delivering a ball towards Lukaku or shooting himself.
But there was no further breakthrough for either side at half-time, which will have left Romania the happier of the two teams as they were still in it.
In the second half, the game opened like a river mouth into the ocean.
KING KEV! 👑 #BELROU #EURO2024 #WirSchaffenDas pic.twitter.com/BVI3ZbuT33
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) June 22, 2024
Belgium, determined to get a second and kill the game off, emerged with renewed energy and desire.
De Bruyne had four long-range efforts that went close, twice forcing the goalkeeper into good saves.
Meanwhile, Koen Casteels was forced into a smart low save to keep out Razvan Marin at the other end.
Lukaku thought he had the second goal of the game but it was ruled out for offside.
The Chelsea striker was played through and slotted home calmly, but replays showed he was fractionally off.
However, his slightly mistimed run was made amends by De Bruyne timing his to perfection to make it 2-0.
The Manchester City playmaker ran from his own half to latch on to a deep goalkeeper and like Lukaku’s offside attempt, passing it around the goalkeeper and into the net.
There could have been a third and even a fourth as the game came to a close.
Substitute Leandro Trossard burst in behind and looked to play it across to Lukaku, but a last-ditch block from Romania prevented a certain goal.
😮#EURO2024 | #BELROU pic.twitter.com/cg2iFI24ka
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 22, 2024
The big striker was at it again just moments later, this time using his own pace to burst past a defender and shoot, only for his effort to be saved by the feet of Nita.
It was a valiant effort from Romania, but in the end Belgium’s extra quality gave them the edge.
What next for Belgium and Romania at Euro 2024?
Group E is finely poised with all four teams sitting on three points.
Belgium have jumped to the top of the standings thanks to their superior goals conceded record and they will end the campaign against Ukraine on 26 June.
Romania will play on the same date but against Slovakia.
Both sides go into the matches knowing a win will see them through to the knockouts.
