As the world’s top-ranked squad fell out on Friday, Kevin De Bruyne claimed that injury-plagued Belgium “gave everything” in their 2-1 quarter-final defeat by Italy.
After Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne scored first-half goals for the Azzurri in Munich, Belgium got a lifeline shortly before halftime when Romelu Lukaku converted a penalty. Despite the absence of Belgium captain Eden Hazard, De Bruyne produced two excellent second-half opportunities that Lukaku and Thorgan Hazard came infuriatingly close to scoring.
De Bruyne explained that they are disappointed but to be realistic, he had an idea that it would be difficult as many factors worked against them.Eden Hazard’s hamstring ailment, Timothy Castagne’s eye injury in the first game, and the fact that Axel Witsel had just recently returned from injury before the tournament were all mentioned by the Manchester City player. De Bruyne also said the Red Devils will “try again” at the 2022 World Cup.
