Luxembourg second-best in defeat to Belgium

There was only one change to the starting XI that took to the pitch against Kylian Mbappé and co. at the Stade Symphorien in the mid-week friendly, as injured Sébastien Thill only recovered enough to make the bench. Chris Philipps from Wiltz 71 was introduced in his place, a surprise inclusion in the squad following the absences of Leandro Barreiro, Olivier Thill, Vincent Thill, Timothé Rupil and Mirza Mustafić.
 
Ten out of the eleven players, therefore, came into the game only three days after a full 90 minutes (in most cases) against France. The mental and physical strain on some players was apparent for everyone from the starting whistle as Belgium started the game confidently and recklessly, prompting many individual mistakes from the Luxembourg defence in the opening minutes, and coming close to scoring numerous times.
 
It took roughly 15 minutes for that first wave of pressure to subside and for the state of the game to become more balanced. Luxembourg successfully survived, and while there were some shaky performances for the remainder of the game (more about that later), they generally kept their organised shape at the back, not opening up too many times.
 
The breakthrough for the Red Devils came when they launched a counter-attack shortly before half-time. Romelu Lukaku got the ball at the halfway line and started sprinting towards the Luxembourgish goal with it. With captain Laurent Jans beaten, Enes Mahmutović ran to the rescue, but his sliding challenge fouled Lukaku inside the box, resulting in a penalty. The striker converted it himself, slotting coolly past Anthony Moris.
 
Moris once again found himself helpless with the shots on target he received at times, much like in the France encounter. Despite the six goals conceded across two games, the goalkeeper was arguably one of the strongest performers in this international break, saving his team in dangerous situation several times and only conceding from shots he was never realistically expected to save (such as this penalty or Jonathan Clauss’ rocket into the net off the crossbar). With a much-rotated defence (lacking Mica Pinto, Florian Bohnert, Marvin Martins, Seid Korać and Lars Gerson), Moris received limited support from his backline and was often left to himself in dangerous one-on-one situations.
 
In the second half, however, even his expertise could not drag Luxembourg out of the mud. It took 12 minutes after the resumption of the game for Lukaku to make it a brace for himself, finishing from close range after Manchester City winger Jérémy Doku had dribbled shamefully past Eldin Džogović to set up his teammate.
 
In the last half an hour, a lacklustre Luxembourg team were often caught out by Belgium in front of their own goal and were lucky not to have conceded another until the 81st minute – when Leandro Trossard settled the score with a goal from Wout Faes’ assist.
 
Both wings of Belgium’s attack were equally dangerous, despite a contrasting situation between the Red Lions’ full-backs who had to defend against them. On the left, Laurent Jans celebrated his 103rd international appearance, having set the record earlier this week against France, surpassing previous leader Mario Mutsch (101 caps). On the right, Džogović found himself in the line-up as a result of the challenging circumstances, and it showed in his performances. Two traumatic nights man-marking Mbappé and Doku respectively resulted in some terrible errors, several of which led directly to goals.
 
Very unlucky timing for both of the defenders: Džogović has hardly managed to increase his value or provide a compelling argument for more club involvement at senior level (he plays for Magdeburg in the German Bundesliga 2), while Jans might want to forget some of his own struggles and misery this Saturday at a game which should have been remembered as his big occasion.
 
In attack, the team were similarly toothless. 1 shot against Belgium and 3 against France (one of them hitting the target, besides hitting the post once), and the build-ups often lacked a creative force with the vision and technique to execute the killer passes that could put the strikers through. Without Barreiro’s intelligence, Gerson Rodrigues and Danel Sinani found themselves isolated up front, especially in the second game, when playmaker Sébastien Thill was dropped for a more defensive option in Philipps.
 
Under such challenging circumstances, with as many injuries and other absentees Luxembourg had, these games were never going to be particularly enjoyable for fans or players in the Grand Duchy. Both opponents are several levels above Luxembourg’s best possible eleven, let alone this squad consisting largely of fringe players and youngsters. With that in mind, Luxembourg fought bravely. They tried to stay solid at the back whenever they could, but that is much easier said than done against the likes of Antoine Griezmann or Kevin De Bruyne.
 
The two losses will no doubt have also taught the squad some very important lessons. They have already proven that they could beat anyone just below the top sides of the continent (points against Iceland, Slovakia and Türkiye are admirable), so the logical next step is to try and mix it with the elite.
 
In the end, it proved a step too far. However, from a country of Luxembourg’s size and considering just how much they have improved in recent years, these defeats will hardly prove anything more drastic than a momentary setback.