France and Belgium meet for a high-voltage clash at Dusseldorf in the Round of 16 stage of Euro 2024. The winners will face either Slovenia or Portugal in the quarterfinals.
FRA vs BEL Match Details
Date: Monday, 1 July 2024
Time: 18:00 (CET), 21:30 (IST)
Venue: Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf
FRA vs BEL Match Preview
For the first time in 12 years, France qualified for the knockouts of a major competition as the runners-up of their group. Drawn into a group with Austria, Netherlands and Poland, Les Bleus was expecting to top their group but ended up finishing second without scoring a goal from open play albeit having a potent attack. Didier Deschamps's men picked up a hard-fought 1-0 win against the Austrians through an own goal before playing a goalless stalemate against the Dutch without the injured Kylian Mbappe. While he scored from the spot on his return against Poland in the final group game, France was denied victory again after Robert Lewandowski scored from his retake penalty after Mike Maignan came off his line to deny the initial one. In the end, Austria topped the group leaving the two-time winners with an unwanted tie against Belgium in the last 16. Les Bleus claimed knockout wins against the Red Devils in the previous two meetings, giving some confidence to the underperforming team to make the step to the quarterfinals.
Like their opponents in Dusseldorf, Belgium became surprise runners-up in Group E with all the sides ending on the same points. Domenico Tedesco's team were a shadow of the qualifying campaign as they began Euro 2024 with a surprise 1-0 loss to Slovakia. Despite bouncing back with a 2-0 victory over Romania, the 0-0 draw against Ukraine where Wout Faes had to make a goalline block and Koen Casteels kept his gloves strong forced Red Devils to finish second in their group. The tournament in Germany hasn’t been kind to top teams, with Croatia being eliminated from the group stage and holders Italy also bowing out in the last-16. Hence, Belgium will not be keen on adding their name to the list when they take on France despite having no wins in this fixture in a competitive game since 1981. To their relief to an extent, Les Bleus are also struggling but there is no reason to be carried away. The Red Devils have lost just once in 18 games hoping to use the record in the match to make back-to-back appearances in the Euros quarterfinal stage possible.
Recent Form (all competitions)
FRA: WDWDD
BEL: DWLDW
Recent Form (Euro 2024)
FRA: WDD
BEL: LWD
FRA vs BEL Predicted Lineups
France
Maignan; Kounde, Saliba, Upamecano, Hernandez; Kante, Tchouameni; Dembele, Griezmann, Rabiot; Mbappe
Belgium
Casteels; Castagne, Faes, Vertonghen, Theate; Tielemans, Onana; Doku, De Bruyne, Carrasco; Lukaku
FRA vs BEL Head-to-head
Played - 75
FRA won - 26
Drawn - 19
BEL won - 30
FRA vs BEL Dream11 Match Prediction
Despite both teams struggling, France might have the edge in this battle with the squad having more knockout experience and a superior mentality in situations like this. We predict a 2-1 win for Les Bleus after extra-time.
FRA vs BEL Dream11 Top picks
Captain Pick: Kylian Mbappe
Vice-captain Picks: De Bruyne
FRA vs BEL Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Casteels (Cr - 8)
DEF: Castagne (Cr - 7.5), Upamecano (Cr - 8), Hernandez (8.5)
MID: Dembele (8.5), Tielemans (Cr - 7.5), Kante (Cr - 8.5), De Bruyne (9), Griezmann (9)
FW: Lukaku (9), Mbappe (9)
Vice-captain: De Bruyne
Captain: Kylian Mbappe
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