Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne reacts as Belgium are eliminated at Euro 2020 by Italy
A bitterly disappointed Thibaut Courtois said he felt Italy were ‘deserved’ winners as his Belgium side were defeated 2-1 and missed out on a place in the Euro 2020 semi-finals.
Romelu Lukaku’s penalty looked to have handed Belgium a lifeline on the stroke of half-time after earlier goals from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne but Roberto Mancini’s men held firm to progress to the last four.
A suspected hamstring injury to Leonardo Spinazzola – who has been one of the stars of this summer’s tournament – put a slight dampener of Italy’s otherwise triumphant evening at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.
But Mancini will be delighted to see his team maintain their 100 per cent record at the championships to set up an enticing semi-final clash versus Spain, with the Azzurri’s 32-match unbeaten run stretching back to September 2018.
Meanwhile, Roberto Martinez’s men – the number one ranked side ahead of the Euros – will have to lick their wounds and regroup ahead of their World Cup qualifying campaign which begins in just two months’ time.
‘This hits hard but we knew it was going to be a tough game,’ Belgium goalkeeper Courtois said after the loss.
‘We had two opportunities but their keeper made a good save and I think we gave the first goal away a bit to easily.
‘It really could have gone either way, but Italy deserved to win here.’
De Bruyne was a major injury doubt coming into the tournament due to facial and ankle injuries but impressed as Belgium made it out of the group phase and into the quarter-finals.
But the Manchester City midfielder admitted it had been a ‘strange’ period for him personally in the wake the defeat.
‘This is a disappointment, but we have tried everything to win this game,’ he told Sporza.
‘For me personally it have been a strange four or five weeks with the injuries.
‘I had a tear in my ankle ligament. But I have to thank the medical staff.’
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