Belgium beat Germany after 69 years

Visitors Belgium battled to a 3-2 win over Germany in a friendly on Tuesday to make it two wins from two matches in the past four days while piling pressure on the embattled Euro 2024 hosts.

With both teams eager to bounce back from their shock group stage World Cup exits in December, it was Belgium who were the better side, earning their first victory over the Germans since 1954.

The Germans were completely outclassed in the first half, as Belgium attacked at will.
De Bruyne set up two goals to give his side a 2-0 lead inside 10 minutes, before scoring one of his own late in the second to deepen Germany's woes ahead of next year's European Championship on home soil.

“Independent of the result, it is important how we perform in these friendly games,” said new Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco.

“It's not easy to play here... the German team have some really good players.”
Germany were hoping to find some form after recent uncharacteristic early exits from major tournaments, but lost to Belgium for the first time since 1954.

“We were too restrained, too passive, and we weren't able to put the opponent under pressure,” Germany coach Hansi Flick told TV network RTL, saying “Belgium played mercilessly”.

The four-time world champions suffered a second successive World Cup group-stage exit in Qatar last year, which followed a last-16 loss to England at Euro 2020.

Belgium's German-raised coach Tedesco pushed Yannick Carrasco up front in place of Arsenal's Leandro Trossard and the move paid immediate dividends, with the Atletico Madrid winger blasting in on the counter just six minutes in.