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English Woman's Journal - De Bruyne scores twice as Belgium beat Israel in Nations League

De Bruyne scores twice as Belgium beat Israel in Nations League

SPORTS 06.09.2024
De Bruyne scores twice as Belgium beat Israel in Nations League
De Bruyne scores twice as Belgium beat Israel in Nations League / Photo: Attila KISBENEDEK - AFP

Kevin de Bruyne scored twice as Belgium opened their UEFA Nations League campaign with a 3-1 victory over Israel behind closed doors in Debrecen in Hungary.

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The victory left Belgium tied atop Group 2 in the top-tier League A with Italy who beat France by the same score.

The match, a Belgian home fixture, was moved after the city of Brussels deemed it "impossible to organise this very high-risk match" in the city due to tensions linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Other Belgian cities also refused to host the match.

De Bruyne gave Belgium a 21st minute lead. Jeremy Doku broke down the left and pulled the ball back to his unmarked Manchester City club-mate.

Israel levelled after 36 minutes when Timothy Castagne deflected a header powerfully off his own crossbar and into the net.

Youri Tielemans ran on to a flick from Lois Openda to put Belgium ahead again in the 48th minute.

Openda, starting after Romelu Lukaku asked to be left out of the Belgium squad, then drew a foul from Raz Shlomo to win a penalty that de Bruyne converted in the 56th minute.

Four minutes later, Openda won another penalty, drawing a foul from Sagiv Jehezkel.

Captain De Bruyne, who had never scored a hat-trick for Belgium, passed the ball to Openda but Yoav Gerafi saved the spot kick with his legs.

K.Marshall--EWJ

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