In a match that did not offer much in terms of spectacle and facing an absolutely non-existent Russia, the Belgians did not need to sweat to afford a large first success during this Euro (3-0). Natural candidate for the title of top scorer of the competition, Romelu Lukaku offered himself a double.
It was Lukaku’s 61st international goal in 94 international matches, a staggering number. And this is already the fourth major tournament in which the striker has scored after the 2014 World Cup, EURO 2016 and the 2018 World Cup. Where Lukaku was framed in the group stage in the last two tournaments (with two and four goals respectively), he failed to make the difference in the knockout phase. Given his current best form, it is expected in Belgium that Lukaku will lead his team very far in the tournament, possibly even up to the coveted first major prize.
Faced with a Russia they had spanked in qualifying for this Euro (3-1 in the first leg, 4-1 in the return), Belgium did not procrastinate for long. Without rushing into the attack, Roberto Martínez’s men put their game down, taking advantage of the wanderings of the Sbornaïa defense to dive. First instance in the 10th minute: yet offside at the start of the action, and not just a little, Romelu Lukaku is put in play by a failed release attempt from Semenov in his area, and deceives Shunin with a fappe cross (1-0, 10th). The Inter player who, of course, dedicated his goal to his friend Christian Erkiksen. Without a big Zhirkov (18th) and an excellent Shunin (22nd), the second would have arrived even faster. But he was not long in coming, that said: barely entered the game in place of Timothy Castagne, injured in a very impressive shock with Daler Kuzyaev, Thomas Meunier was in the right place to take a ball of Thorgan Hazard badly deflected by the Russian goalkeeper (2-0, 34th). Without being overwhelmingly impressive or creating a million chances for themselves, Martinez’s men closed the game in 45 minutes by simply doing the job like professionals.
