Published 07:00 IST, October 11th 2019
Euro 2020 qualifiers: Belgium beat San Marino 9-0 in Brussels
Belgium cruised to a nine nil victory over San Marino to become the first team to qualify for Euro 2020 with Lukaku scoring his fiftiest goal for Belgium
- SportFit
- 3 min read
Belgium hosted San Marino on October 11 in the King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels in a qualifier for the Euro 2020. Belgium , having won all of their fixtures, scored a whopping 19 goals and conceded just one heading into the game. As for San Marino, they have yet to score or manage a win in the qualifiers so far.
Match Report
The game had to wait till the 28th minute for the first goal which opened the floodgates for Belgium after an entertaining first 25 minutes. Romelu Lukaku scored his 50th goal in the game with a well-taken effort after some fine work by Youri Tielemans. He then set up Nacer Chadli minutes later before an own goal from Cristian Brolli put Belgium 3-0 up in the 35th minute. Lukaku then grabbed his second in the 41st minute assisted by Madrid's Eden Hazard. A deflected Toby Alderweireld effort and a Tielemans’ shot saw Belgium lead 6-0 at the break.
The second half saw the pace of the game slow down a bit until Belgium added three more goals in the last fifteen minutes to seal 9-0 victory. Benteke scored his first goal for two years in the 79th minute with Verschaeren scoring from a penalty and Castagne also finding the net in the last 10 minutes to round-up the scoring.
Best Moments
Romelu Lukaku became the first Belgian to score a half-century of goals for Belgium when he netted the first of his two goals. Lukaku could have easily had his hattrick; if not for some missed chances.
Eden Hazard was at his breathtaking best against the supposed minnows and would feel unlucky for failing to find the back of the net. Nevertheless, it was a man of the match performance by the Belgian.
19-year old attacker Yari Verschaeren won a penalty and took it himself to open the account for the youngster at the international stage.
Belgium with another thrashing win has become the first side to qualify for the Euro 2020. Roberto Martinez has managed so far to get the best out of his side and Belgium sure would be riding high into the tournament next year.
As for Belgium, it is Kazakhstan next and San Marino would be visiting Scotland for their next qualifiers.
Updated 18:03 IST, October 11th 2019