Euro 2024 preview: France collide with broken Belgians

By this stage of the European Championship, favourites France and contenders Belgium would have wanted to be well into their stride and hitting their straps as they enter the knockout stages.

Instead, the neighbours go spluttering into the last 16 and into a head-on collision in Dusseldorf this afternoon after both failed to finish top of their first-round group.

France’s much-vaunted attack is suffering from a crisis of confidence and coach Didier Deschamps, usually a steady hand guiding the squad, looks unsure of what his next move will be.

Belgium will have had some motivation sucked out of their cause following an astonishingly hostile reaction from their own supporters after they limped into the next stage of the tournament in Germany.

Despite Wednesday’s draw with Ukraine assuring them progress, they were subjected to loud barracking from their fans and have since closed ranks.

Captain Kevin De Bruyne did not take kindly to the abuse. His attitude and demeanour will set the tone for the rest of the Belgian side as they look to leave behind them the limp performances from the group stage.

Romelu Lukaku needs to find his scoring touch after a number of missed opportunities in the tournament. His record 85 goals for Belgium does not include any from Euro 2024, and overall he has a poor scoring record at major tournaments. However, France defender William Saliba feels that the threat posed by the striker is still significant.

“There aren’t many defenders who enjoy playing against Romelu Lukaku, I think,” said the Arsenal centre-back. “But we don’t have a choice, that’s how it is. When you’re a defender, you’re happy because we’re playing against the best.

“You know how to play against attackers like this. You have to be focused, don’t throw yourself around, don’t stick to him too much because he’s strong. I played a few attackers like that. We’re going to try to block him as best we can.”

Saliba’s fellow defender Ibrahima Konate agreed that France will need to be at their best in order to stop Lukaku, even if he is not in his best form at present.

“I think he’s the strongest attacker I’ve played against,” said Konate. “He’s someone with a lot of qualities. But there is not just Lukaku on the Belgian team. It’s the whole group: they’re a complete team.

“But I also have confidence in the qualities that we have in the French team. But it will be a very difficult match because they will coming into it wanting revenge for the 2018 World Cup (semi-final loss).”

Few would have envisaged a French forward line failing to score in open play in their opening three matches at the tournament. One of their two goals was a penalty from Kylian Mbappe, the other an own goal from Austria in their opening game.

“It’s true we didn’t score many goals in the group stage,” added Saliba. “When you don’t score a lot, you have to be focused. But that’s how it can be when you are playing at the highest level.”

Deschamps must now decide whether to restore Antoine Griezmann to the line-up and pair him up front with Mbappe.

Griezmann has been a long-time mainstay for Deschamps but was dropped for their last game, a 1-1 draw with Poland, which allowed Austria to emerge unexpected winners of Group D, which also included the Netherlands.

“He’s played in every match,” Deschamps told reporters in the lead-up to the game. “He played almost two whole matches. He came on for 20 minutes there (against Poland). Maybe you have a bone to pick with Antoine but for me there’s no problem.

“I know what Antoine is capable of. And like I said after the second match if he put in one of the two chances he had it would have been a different result. So do whatever you want, think whatever you like. It’s not a problem for me at all. It’s a choice for the moment. The same thing happened to Marcus (Thuram) and it happen to others too.”

Belgium is France’s oldest and most frequent opponent. The first international for both countries was a 3-3 draw in Brussels 120 years ago.

Belgium lead the win count of 75 past meetings 30-26 but France won the last two – the semi-final at the 2018 World Cup in St Petersburg and the Nations League semi-final in Turin in October 2021.

The winner of Monday’s clash at the Dusseldorf Arena will take on Portugal or Slovenia in the quarter-finals.

Watch France v Belgium live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 4.30pm or follow live updates on the RTÉ Sport website and the RTÉ News app