In the one-eighth final of the European Cup, Belgium was defeated by France 0-1, regrettably stopping outside the top eight. After the match, Belgium's midfield core De Bruyne accepted an interview with Bayern Sports, reflecting deeply on the match and talking about his future in the national team.
Game analysis and tactical execution
De Bruyne first affirmed his team's performance in the match, saying that the team did not miss too many chances and executed the set game plan well. He admitted that facing the powerful French team, Belgium knew that they would be at a disadvantage in terms of possession, and therefore adopted the corresponding tactical arrangements. De Bruyne pointed out that the team created some threatening attacking chances in the game, but unfortunately failed to capitalize on them, which ultimately led to the loss.
Defensive Strategy and Opponent Strength
Speaking about the defensive strategy, De Bruyne said that it is difficult to defend top players like Griezmann, Mbappe or Thuram in one-on-one situations when too much space is given to the French team. As a result, the team decided to drop back a bit in the game to reduce the space for the opponents to attack. He believes that this strategy worked well for most of the game, and that the team did a good job of limiting the opponent's offense until five minutes before the end of the game.
Individual Futures and National Team Prospects
De Bruyne appeared cautious when talking about his future with the Belgian national team. He said that it was too early to answer questions about the future and that he needed time to digest the emotions of this loss. De Bruyne emphasized that it has been a very long season and his body needs to be well rested and recovered. He revealed that he will seriously consider and make a decision after the summer.
