Belgium vs Ukraine: match report

Compared to the first match, which the Ukrainians won with a 3-1 score, head coach of the Blue-and-Yellows Serhii Rebrov made several changes in the line-up. It should be noted that two Shakhtar players came on from the starting minutes – defender Mykola Matviienko as the team captain and midfielder Heorhii Sudakov.

The first half of the match passed with a tangible territorial advantage of the Belgians, but Ukraine acted properly, relying on defence, and almost did not allow the opponent to create danger near their goal. De Bruyne shot from distance several times – Lunin saved, Vanaken and Doku had half-moments, and in another episode the post saved the team after Vanat’s slice. At the same time, the Blue-and-Yellows could have scored during the counterattack, but after Zinchenko’s shot from outside the penalty area, the ball went centimetres away from the post.

After the break, the pattern of play did not change: the same persistent attacks by Belgium with dangerous shots from Castagne (above the target) and Vanaken (into the goalkeeper), to which the Ukrainians responded with an opportunity by Sudakov, who narrowly missed Mykolenko’s high pass on the goal-area line. However, the pressure from the host team did lead to goals: in the 70th minute, De Cuyper opened the scoring with a shot from the penalty area, in the 75th minute, Lukaku doubled his team’s advantage after De Bruyne’s pass. Dovbyk could have reduced the gap immediately, but his header was saved by the goalkeeper of the Belgians. And in the 86th minute, the host team made the deciding goal – Lukaku scored again – 0-3.

The Ukraine national team lost to Belgium on aggregate (3-4), thus, the Blue-and-Yellows stay in the UEFA Nations League B for another season.