A dominant display from newly appointed head coach Domenico Tedesco's Belgium side saw them breeze past Sweden in the EURO 2024 qualifiers. Belgium's talisman striker Romelu Lukaku bagged a hat trick in a near-perfect display from the number nine, against a lacklustre Sweden side.
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Starting Line Ups:
Manager: Janne Andersson
Robin Olsen; Linus Wahlqvist Egnell, Victor Lindelof, Hjalmar Ekdal, Ludwig Augustinsson, Mattias Svanberg, Kristoffer Olsson, Samuel Gustafson, Emil Forsberg, Dejan Kulusevski, Alexander Isak.
Manager: Domenico Tedesco
Thibaut Courtois; Arthur Theate, Jan Vertonghen, Wout Faes, Timothy Castagne, Amadou Onana, Yannick Carrasco, Leandro Trossard, Kevin De Bruyne, Dodi Lukebakio, Romelu Lukaku.
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Story of the Match
After a disappointing and humiliating World Cup group stage exit, the Red Devils said farewell to long-term head coach Roberto Martinez and replaced him with Italian, former RB Leipzig head coach, Domenico Tedesco.
Tedesco's influence was immediately felt as Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku secured his first in the 35th minute, diverting Dodi Lukebakio's cross expertly past Robin Olsen in the Sweden goal and giving his side a one-goal lead heading into the halftime break. Sweden had been outclassed in the first 45 minutes, with their only chance of note being cleared away by Wout Faes off the line, on 14 minutes.
Belgium began the second half as they had left off the first with Lukaku netting his second of the match in 49 minutes. Dodi Lukebakio was again the creator, skillfully breezing past Emil Forsberg and cutting the ball back where the number nine was waiting for an easy tap-in to double the advantage.
After securing two assists for his side, Lukebakio was replaced by 19-year-old PSV Eindhoven winger, Johan Bakayoko, in the 61st minute. This would prove to be an inspired substitution from Tedesco, as the young prospect would provide an excellent assist for Romelu Lukaku's third.
After picking the ball up on the right wing, Bakayoko showed excellent skill and movement to get past the two Swedish defenders and showed even more quality to provide a pinpoint pass to find Lukaku at the far post and complete his hat trick. This would be the striker's 71st goal for his national side in all competitions.
The main highlight of the game for the home side was in the 71st minute, when legendary striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic replaced Alexander Isak. However, at age 41 and 172 days, he is still not the oldest player to feature in a EURO qualifier. Instead, Gilbratar's Lee Casciaro started in their 3-0 defeat to Greece. He takes the title away from Zlatan by just four days.
The result sees Belgium rise to 2nd place in Group F, behind Austria on goals scored. On the other hand Sweden fall to 5th, behind Estonia, and Azerbaijan.
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Player of the match:
The easy choice here would be Romelu Lukaku, after his stellar hat trick. However, I am going to go with dynamic 25-year-old Hertha Berlin winger Dodi Lukebakio.
Recording two assists in 61 minutes of play, Lukebakio was the primary reason for Romelu's success. Without Lukebakio's skill and technical ability, the striker not have been provided with the chance to score. Lukebakio completed 4/5 successful dribbles, and 22/26 accurate passes and finished the game with a match rating of 8.7.
