2-0: De Bruyne scores in his 100th game for Belgium

Belgium He did his homework this past Friday Montenegro, comfortably beat the Balkans 2-0 in a friendly preparation for German Euro 2024 which served to make him captain of the ‘red devils’, Kevin de Bruyne, He celebrated his one hundred matches for the national team with a goal. The other goal was achieved at the end of the Arsenal Leandro Trossard.

The midfielder of City of Manchesterwhich debuted in Belgium in August 2010, at the age of 19, he did not disappoint after fourteen years and led the Belgian attack with authority, opening spaces and creating chances.

And near the end of the first half, fate rewarded him with an almost unexpected goal when he pushed the ball into an empty goal from around 35 meters after a botched clearance by the Balkan defense.

De Bruyne scored his 27th goal for the Red Devils in a match where the Belgians dominated Montenegro, who will not be competing in the Euro Cup, from start to finish, and gave the King’s crowd a pleasant experience Baudouin Stadium in Brussels against the team he has led since February the former Croatian footballer Robert Prosinecki, a rivalry that ended with a penalty goal by Leandro Trossard in the 92nd minute.

The friendly served as a laboratory for Domenico Tedesco, who warned he would use Wednesday and Saturday’s friendlies against Luxembourg to conduct tests before facing his first tournament with Belgium, after coaching Leipzig, Spartak Moscow and Schalke 04 .

The Italian-German left veterans Romelu Lukaku, Yuri Tieelams and Jan Vertghen on the stand and gave the center forward position to Lois Openda, a 24-year-old Leipzig attacker, who this year has scored 28 goals for the German club .

Openda answered. Very active in attack, with several occasions that could end in a goal, he started the game for De Bruyne’s goal with a pass from Balkan defender Édvin Kuc to Sarkic goalkeeper Matija Sarkic.

The forward has agreed terms with De Bruye and also with Yannick Carrasco, a former Atlético de Madrid footballer and now a winger for Saudi Al-Shabab to take over on the right wing both in attack and defence.

Tedesco, who will miss Thibaut Courtois at the Euro Cup because the footballer is angry with the coach, set up Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels, 31, in goal against Montenegro. And the goalkeeper, emerging as a starter for the Euro Cup, made no mistake on the few occasions where he had to intervene.

The coach also started Maxim De Cuyper, a 23-year-old Westerloo defender, for the first time, and in the second half he tried to make a battery of five changes.

De Bruyne, Wout Faes, Carrasco, Amadou Onana, Bakayoko and Meunier left and Atlético Axel Witsel, Sevilla player Dodi Lukebakio, Manchester City winger Jéremy Doku, Lyon midfielder on loan at Nottingham Forest Orel Mangala and Fulham’s full-back Thimoty Castagne entered.

The Belgians continued to control the game, with some timid attempts by the Montenegrins, and before the final whistle, when the Montenegrins were with ten on the field due to the dismissal of Brnovic’s double yellow, a foul by Bakic on Doku created a penalty Leandro Trossard converted to make it 2-0.

Prosinecki’s men, whose dozen clubs he played for also included Standard Liege in the 2000-2001 season, were the first to lose in their third game with the Croatian on the bench, after victories over North Macedonia and Belarus .

Belgium will also face Luxembourg in a friendly match on Saturday, before traveling to Germany on June 12, where they will face Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine in a group.