Belgium’s elimination in the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar was seen as a huge disappointment by the European press. The main Belgian newspapers focused their criticism on the missed goals by striker Romero Lukaku. They also adopted the discourse of the end of a generation.
La Libre newspaper said Lukaku “forgot to score”, which complicated the team’s game plan.
🇧🇷[O técnico] Roberto MartÃnez tried to save his best shots for the second half. A plan that might have worked if Romelu Lukaku hadn’t missed three big chances.”
Le Soir adopted a more conformist tone, analyzing that the Belgian team had a good game against the Croatians, but the goal was missing.
Gazet van Antwerpen also highlighted the missed goals of the Belgian team, mainly the ball on the crossbar in Lukaku’s kick, in the second half.
The newspaper also defines the elimination as the end of the current Belgian generation. “Unfortunately, we Belgians have also become dreamers. We dreamed in Qatar of one last feat of the golden generation. In vain.”
The elimination also had repercussions in other countries. In Italy’s Gazzetta, “Lukaku misses two clamorous goals and Belgium is out of the World Cup”.
In Spain, Marca also marked the end of an era in Belgium. “Croatia buries the golden generation”. The same tone was adopted by the English The Sun.
For the Guardian, also from England, “Lukaku could have left the field with the ball, but his hat-trick of errors condemned Belgium to an early elimination”.
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