De Bruyne shines as Belgium defeat Germany in five-goal thriller

De Bruyne shines as Belgium defeat Germany in five-goal thriller

Ifeanyi Ufomadu 21:50 - 28.03.2023

Belgium ran out 3-2 winners over Germany in an entertaining friendly encounter at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne.

Germany’s 13-game unbeaten run in friendlies came to an end as Belgium continued their resurgence under new coach Domenico Tedesco, making it two wins from two to start his reign as national team boss.

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How it happened

Belgium began the game on the front foot and got their noses in front after just six minutes when a perfectly-weighted pass from Kevin De Bruyne found Yannick Carrasco bearing down on goal, with the Atletico Madrid man needing no invitation to slide home the opener.

Three minutes later Belgium doubled their lead and this time it was  Romelu Lukaku who benefited from another De Bruyne assist to finish past Germany keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

With halftime approaching, Germany pulled one back after Lukaku gave away a penalty, and  Niclas Füllkrug, whose header had led to the spot-kick being given, stepped up to convert from 12 yards,

The excellent De Bruyne added a third for the visitors with a sweet left-footed finish from just inside the penalty area late on.

Germany continued to attack and found a goal at the death as substitute Serge Gnabry finished off Kevin Schade’s cutback, but it would count for little as Belgium held out to seal the win.

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