By Lori Ewing
STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) – Belgium fans booed and whistled their side after their dour 0-0 draw with Ukraine on Wednesday that set up a last-16 tie against France, and more boos rained down when captain Kevin De Bruyne was announced as the man of the match.
But the Manchester City midfielder gave a muted reply when asked about the supporters’ hostile reaction, which other sides have also received from their fans in Germany.
“We tried to win the match and up to the 90th minute, we had goal-scoring opportunities … and we know that we can concede a goal just like with England, and when that happens, then you’re out of the Euros,” De Bruyne said.
“It’s a shame that we didn’t manage to score before, we did have opportunities. And afterwards, we just need our fans,” he added. “We gave it all during the three matches, the team ran until the 95th minute, everybody wants to win the matches and we did try to do this on the pitch.”
The scoreless draw left Belgium second in Group E.
While Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco understood the fans’ frustration, he backed his players cautious performance. With all four teams in the group on the same points at the start there was no room for error.
“We knew today we couldn’t fail,” Tedesco said. “The players tried everything. We can score earlier, we can score more, then many things are easier. I’m proud of my team because they did well at the end — if you concede one goal, you are out.
“This group was tougher than many thought. On paper, you can be favourites, but you have to play the games and these teams have absolutely nothing to lose.”
De Bruyne spoke to an official midway through the game after a laser pointer from someone in the crowd was repeatedly aimed at his face.
“Of course, I’m aware of it,” Tedesco said. “Everything is happening here. And everything is allowed. We can have a delay of one hour (en route to the game due to traffic), they don’t postpone the match. They can laser point us, whatever.
“So many things and we can still qualify. This is for me the most important thing. That’s why I’m really proud of the players.”
Asked about his plan for taking on France, the World Cup runners-up, Tedesco said: “We go to win. We are here and qualified for this Euro to be part of the best teams. Now we face a top team, that’s why we qualified, otherwise we could stay at home.”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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