COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) – Following is reaction after Belgium beat Romania 2-0 on Saturday in their Euro 2024 Group E clash in Cologne:
Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, Player of the Match and scorer of the second goal: “We played well as a team and we deserved to win. I think we played a little better than the first match, we created a little more, but we still give away opportunities and we had to score even more.
“We knew what to do today, it was from having to win, we did that. Now we are going to take a break, we know what to do in the third game.
“We have a new team with a lot of young boys. I’m already getting a little older and I want to show with the Devils in my last years how to behave as a player and as a leader.”
Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco: “I liked the second game a little more. Today, from my point of view the result was good. Romania left more space than Slovakia did.
“Now for a moment we are a little released and happy to book these three points and see for the next game how we’re prepared.
“We have a good mentality, we pressed high, tried to win the ball in a very high area. Romania normally have more control of the games… they normally create more chances.”
Romania manager Edward Iordanescu: “You saw a team with lots of quality, they have speed, they have explosion, power. They are a complete team. They are a candidate to win the title.
“We never gave up, we fought very hard. In the second half, we were better. With a bit of luck we could have got a point. We had chances to equalise.
“We had to try to not concede too many. A third goal would have been really bad for us. That was the first moment we had to keep in mind the result.
“This team was undefeated for quite a while…we had to make sacrifices, fight for every duel.”
Belgium goalkeeper Koen Casteels: “We showed two faces. The first half we played football very well, we had an extra player everywhere. We were dominant at times and created a lot of opportunities. The only downside is that we haven’t decided it before.”
Belgium defender Timothy Castagne: “We did very well today. We needed to score more goals to be calmer, but we did it. We didn’t score in the first game and we wasted a lot again today, but two were enough.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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