What Kevin De Bruyne said in X-rated speech to Belgium teammates after being booed following Ukraine draw
Kevin de Bruyne has expressed his anger at Belgium’s 0-0 draw with Ukraine in a post-match X-rated rant.
Belgium limped into the Euro 2024 round of 16 after a goalless draw with Ukraine on Wednesday night.
The result means that Belgium fell to second in Group E, behind Romania who topped the group due to goals scored.
The Belgian team will therefore face France in the round of 16, and are on the same side of the tournament bracket as Spain, Germany and Portugal.
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And a camera man has captured captain Kevin de Bruyne’s reaction to the frustrating draw.
Speaking to his teammates, the Manchester City star said: “Listen, it’s okay. We can win the f***ing next game. It’s fine.”
Shortly after the team huddle, De Bruyne and the Belgian team were booed off the pitch by their own fans who were frustrated by the team’s performance.
But the 32-year-old was keen to remind Belgian supporters on Instagram of one key fact.
Alongside a pictures from the match, he wrote just one word: “Through!!”
In the post-match press conference, he also made a plea to Belgian fans to get behind the team ahead of the gruelling round of 16 clash with France.
He said: “We just need them, I don’t know what else to say. We just need the fans. We’ll need them against France. We needed them in the last three games. That’s it.”
“We tried to win the match. We had goalscoring opportunities,” he explained. “We didn’t take any risks with the corner because we knew we might concede a goal.
“If that happens, you’re out of the Euros. It’s a shame we didn’t manage to score before – we had opportunities – and after that we just need fans to stay with us.”
Speaking more about the disappointing performance against Ukraine, he added: “Up until the 90th minute we tried to find solutions out there. We even had two shots in the 90th minute, and Ukraine had one or two good opportunities, too.
“When there’s a minute left, you don’t take any risks. I can understand people want us to win, but if I put the corner over and they counter, everyone will kill me and say I didn’t make the right decision.
“So sometimes you take a risk and other times you need to be smart. Two minutes from the end, you need to be smart.”
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Topics: Euro 2024, Belgium, Kevin De Bruyne, France, Man City, Football
Ben McCrum