Tedesco rues Belgium´s bad fortunes after Euro 2024 exit

Domenico Tedesco felt Belgium were the victims of bad luck after they exited Euro 2024 following defeat by France in the round of 16.

The Red Devils, who crashed out of the 2022 World Cup group stages, suffered another early departure, as Jan Vertonghen’s own-goal five minutes from time was enough to settle the tie in Dusseldorf.

Aged 37 years and 68 days, Vertonghen became the oldest player to put through his own net at the European Championship, and the first Belgium player to do so.

The 1980 finalists subsequently exited the tournament having failed to score in three of their four matches, excluding their 2-0 win over Romania, with Romelu Lukaku unable to open his account while seeing three goals ruled out following VAR reviews.

Tedesco empathised with his number nine as the head coach was left to wonder what might have been.

37 – Jan Vertonghen (37 years, 68 days) is the oldest player to score an own goal at the EUROs and the first-ever Belgian to do so at the tournament. Unlucky. #EURo2024 pic.twitter.com/SoE8NzsRJq

— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) July 1, 2024

“You can’t really say that we were lucky in this tournament, if you see the first games and the kind of goal we conceded tonight,” he told reporters during his post-match press conference.

“If you think that Romelu will go home with zero goals after these kinds of games, and also Jeremy Doku with zero goals and zero assists – for me, it’s unbelievable because they did well, and they deserved more,”

“We have a big trust in Romelu, he showed in several moments that he’s the one who can really take the team to another level, that he can score. He’s always there and dangerous for opponents.

“He’s had a tough tournament. Normally, he’s probably the leading scorer after the group stage, but you leave this game with zero goals, so it’s not easy.”

Despite the disappointment, Kevin De Bruyne – the scorer of one of Belgium’s two goals in Germany – feels he and his team-mates left everything out there at Dusseldorf Arena.

“We did everything to try to win,” the Red Devils skipper said. “We were five minutes from extra time. We had chances, not so many. Then they score, and there isn’t enough time to react.

“We were defending pretty well, but then there was a deflection. It’s a shame, but that’s football. The team really did everything we could do.”