Rudi Garcia believes Belgium have laid a basis for future success by staving off relegation from the highest tier of the Nations League.
Belgium have been starring at demotion to League B after they suffered a humiliating 3-1 defeat to Ukraine within the first leg of their promotion-relegation play-off on Thursday.
However they got here roaring again to earn a 4-3 combination win on Sunday, scoring three targets within the closing 20 minutes of the second leg on a memorable outing at Cegeka Enviornment.
Maxim De Cuyper’s first-time end from Jeremy Doku’s go lastly broke Andriy Lunin’s resistance within the seventieth minute, then Lukaku scored twice to seal a 3-0 victory on the night time – volleying in from a Kevin De Bruyne go for his first.
Garcia, who changed Domenico Tedesco in January, is now hopeful of constructing on Belgium’s escape act.
Reflecting on their first-leg defeat, he informed reporters: “It wasn’t a mentality downside. It was a belief downside.
“I gave them confidence by telling them that they’re individually and collectively high quality gamers.
“I’ve additionally discovered a little bit Dutch and mentioned it in Dutch within the dressing room: ‘We did it’. A great basis has now been laid.
“I believe we will get far with that. We at the moment are beginning the World Cup qualifiers to win all of the video games, in order that we don’t have to work within the play-offs of March 2026.”
What. A. Victory. #BELUKR pic.twitter.com/WsLd1Hmgd2
— Belgian Crimson Devils (@BelRedDevils) March 23, 2025
Lukaku now has 88 targets in 122 appearances for Belgium, whereas De Bruyne has three objective involvements in his final three worldwide outings (two targets, one help).
“Everybody is aware of the qualities of De Bruyne and Lukaku,” Garcia mentioned of the duo. “They’re the leaders of the staff. Tonight they have been superb of their roles.
“Everybody was good. Doku made certain that we might be harmful within the opponent’s penalty space.
“The achievement of everybody should be emphasised and never simply that of our leaders. However the leaders performed their position and that is essential for a coach.”