da cassino online： Kevin De Bruyne put in a remarkable performance in his 100th international match as Belgium cruised past Montenegro in a Euro 2024 warm-up friendly.
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Belgium beat Montenegro 2-0De Bruyne stole the show with a perfect outingTrossard added the icing on the cakeGetty ImagesTELL ME MORE
There was no surprise in Brussels as the European giants started dominating proceedings right from the first whistle. Their attacking trio of Yanick Carrasco, De Bruyne and Lois Openda sliced open Montenegro's defence at will and kept firing one shot after another towards the target.
However, Matija Sarkic stood tall between the sticks and kept out several Belgian attempts. Carrasco was denied a few times within the first 15 minutes while De Bruyne's piledriver from outside the box was also kept out by the Millwall goalkeeper to keep the scoreline unchanged at the half-hour mark.
Nevertheless, Belgium continued to hunt for the opener and finally reaped the dividends of their consistent pressing just a minute before half-time. Openda hurriedly closed down an advancing Sarkic which forced the keeper to play a quick pass to clear his lines. However, his effort was intercepted by De Bruyne, who kept his cool and slotted in an open net to open the scoring.
Domenico Tedesco made six changes at half-time and introduced Arsenal star Leandro Trossard and Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku. Both Doku and Trossard were extremely direct in their approach and combined on several occasions on the left flank to open up Montenegro's defence. Their efforts finally bore fruit in stoppage time as Doku was brought down inside the box and the Gunners forward made no mistake to double the lead, capping off a comfortable victory.
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De Bruyne has been involved in 76 goals in 100 appearances for Belgium, including 27 strikes of his own. He scored his first international goal against Serbia in a 3-0 win back in 2012.
THE MVP
De Bruyne was undoubtedly the star of the show, despite playing for just 45 minutes. The Manchester City midfielder once again showed why he is crucial to Belgium as he kept pulling the strings from an advanced position in midfield to unlock Montenegro's defence time and again when the strikers, Openda and Carrasco, were struggling to break the deadlock. He relentlessly loaded the barrel for them to fire at a stubborn Sarkic who just refused to be beaten – until the man himself got the better of him with a calm and composed finish.
Getty ImagesTHE BIG LOSER
Openda will be disappointed with his performance as the striker had several opportunities to get his name on the scoresheet but all of them went begging. Tedesco gave him the opportunity to prove his mettle ahead of Romelu Lukaku, who was not named in the matchday squad, and he failed to make a case for himself ahead of Euro 2024.