Lukaku brace fires Belgium to comfortable win over Luxembourg in final warm-up
Luxembourg goalkeeper Anthony Moris was first called into action in only the third minute, when Leandro Trossard found Kevin De Bruyne in space, and the Belgium captain’s effort had to be palmed away.
The Manchester City maestro then split the visitors’ defence again just four minutes later with a perfect through-ball to Romelu Lukaku, but the striker could only hit the side netting.
Belgium soon had something of a setback though, as Thomas Meunier was forced off with an injury after just 15 minutes, casting doubt over his participation in the finals.
De Bruyne’s City teammate Jeremy Doku was next to add an injection of skill, as he jinked through the Luxembourgish defence and found Lukaku, but his shot took a deflection and fell kindly for Moris.
Not deterred, Lukaku took matters into his own hands five minutes before half-time, picking the ball up in his own half and shrugging off challenges as he drove into the penalty area, where he was brought down by a clumsy Enes Mahmutovic tackle. The Roma man stepped up and sent Moris the wrong way from the spot to put Belgium ahead.
Belgium continued to pile on the pressure after the break, but they were frustrated by the Red Lions defence, which sat deep early in the second period.
That was until 12 minutes after the restart, when Luxembourg had no answer to Doku’s trickery on the left, as he got to the byline and played the ball across goal for Lukaku to tap home his 85th international goal.
The two combined again two minutes later, but Lukaku was denied a hat-trick by Moris’ save. Moris also needed a strong hand to keep out a Johan Bakayoko strike as the match entered its final quarter.
With 10 minutes to go, however, Belgium iced the cake when Trossard latched onto a long ball over the top by Wout Faes, which the Arsenal man took down expertly and fired home.
Defeat to France in midweek means it is back-to-back losses for Luc Holtz’s side after a run of three wins in four. Belgium, on the other hand, are now 14 matches unbeaten. That provides them with every chance of capitalising on a later start compared to some of their Euro 2024 rivals, as they begin their tournament on June 17th against Slovakia.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Romelu Lukaku (Belgium)