EURO 2024 PREVIEW Mon: France v Belgium

France take on Belgium in a wide open knockout round tie in Dusseldorf where neither of them have blown anyone away in the group stage matches, writes LEWIS WILLIAMS.

France will be seeking to go one better than their legendary penalty shootout defeat in the World Cup which was their last outing in a major tournament, but they haven’t done themselves any favours so far in Germany.

An exciting albeit unconvincing 1-0 win over Austria from an own goal kicked off their Euro 2024 campaign, but Les Bleus were soon humbled by a goalless draw to Netherlands and a score draw versus Poland to finish a limp 2nd in their group.

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We’ve seen plenty of arm waving from the likes of Thuram when Mbappe has gone for goal instead of passing, most notably against Austria, and questions must be asked about France’s failure to score in open play despite having 2.41 xG against a less than inspiring Polish side who earned their only point against the French.

France, in many ways, have a similar dilemma to England entering the knockout phase of this tournament and despite an exciting front line of Mbappe, Dembele, and Thuram, who had a total of 65 goal contributions at club level last season, they haven’t turned on the goalscoring taps so far in Germany.

Despite that, Deschamps’ side are 5th in both attempts and distribution stats which suggests Tchouameni and Kante at 33 can’t be doing anything wrong in the midfield. Still, it will be interesting to see whether Griezmann is deployed in a more attacking fashion on Monday to quell doubts about scoring issues as France are still yet to score a goal in open play after only an own goal and a penalty to their name.

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France v Belgium
UEFA EURO 2024 Round of 16
17.00 ITV1 / ITVX

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
OCT 2021 NATIONS LEAGUE Belgium 2-3 France
JUL 2018 WORLD CUP France 1-0 Belgium
JUN 2015 FRIENDLY France 3-4 Belgium
AUG 2013 FRIENDLY Belgium 0-0 France
NOV 2011 FRIENDLY France 0-0 Belgium

France
JUN 2024 EURO France 1-1 Poland
JUN 2024 EURO Netherlands 0-0 France
JUN 2024 EURO Austria 0-1 France
JUN 2024 FREINDLY France 0-0 Canada
JUN 2024 FREINDLY France 3-0 Luxembourg

Belgium
JUN 2024 EURO Ukraine 0-0 Belgium
JUN 2024 EURO Belgium 2-0 Romania
JUN 2024 EURO Belgium 0-1 Slovakia
JUN 2024 FREINDLY Belgium 3-0 Luxembourg
JUN 2024 FREINDLY Belgium 2-0 Montenegro

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I put up Belgium at 25/1 as one of the dark horses to win this event and I see them continuing their run despite an indifferent Group E campaign, finishing 2nd amidst a quadruple of teams on 4 points.

They kicked off their campaign with a shocking 1-0 loss to Slovakia, but they dominated that game which included two marginally disallowed goals and an off-the-line clearance. They looked much more themselves against Romania, sweeping them aside 2-0 with a huge amount of shots and De Bruyne playing a more upwardly aggressive position than we’ve seen him play in a City shirt.

Belgium were unable to get 3 points against Ukraine in a match featuring decent enough chances – but they knew a point would be enough, so it’s possibly best to take that result with a pinch of salt.

I still believe there’s more to come from Domenico Tedesco’s men and we are yet to see the exciting frontline of Lukaku, Trossard, and Doku firing on all cylinders in top gear. Belgium rank above France in terms of attacks at this event and despite not having the goals to show for it, they have been slowly but surely coasting their way through with unfortunate events occurring throughout some of their fixtures.

This should be an exciting matchup from an attacking point of view and I see little conservatism taking place from each side. Belgium have lost just one in their last 18 matches and I believe they will take this opportunity by the scruff of the neck. I’m backing them to win the tie and progress to the semis at what seems a huge ? with starsports.bet

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