Coach Domenico Tedesco: 'We will go out and win against Ukraine'

Coach Domenico Tedesco stated that the Belgian national team will do their best to win against Ukraine in the final match of Group E at Euro 2024, despite needing only 1 point to secure a spot in the round of 16.

After a surprising loss in their opening match, Belgium quickly bounced back with a win against Romania, thereby opening the door to the round of 16 at Euro 2024. The “Red Devils” are currently leading Group E with 3 points, but interestingly, the other three opponents also have the same number of points, setting up an exciting competition in the final round.

Belgium only needs 1 point to advance, regardless of the result in the other match. However, Coach Domenico Tedesco has affirmed that the players will take the field with the determination to win in their clash against Ukraine.

The 38-year-old strategist said, “We will go out to win. We can’t start calculating or speculating; we want to win this game. In the last seven minutes of the match, we might know what we want to do to maintain the result, but from the beginning, no matter what, we go out to win.

Coach-Domenico-Tedesco-we-will-go-out-and-win-against-ukraine — Tedesco asserts that Belgium will win against Ukraine. Photo: Gett

Wanting to win may not be the wisest approach, but we will not worry about that from the start. We need to focus on our play, and good results will come naturally.”

This upcoming match will be the first time Ukraine and Belgium face each other. Both teams recovered from losses in their opening matches to win their second games, and Tedesco is wary of the threat posed by Coach Serhiy Rebrov’s squad to big teams recently.

Tedesco admitted, “Of course, we need confidence. Normally, there is no reason not to be confident, but in football, you can never be sure. We certainly need a big game tomorrow because Ukraine is a strong team. We have watched many of their matches, not only in the qualifiers against England but also in Euro matches and the friendly (0-0 draw) with Germany, and I think they are the better team.”

Additionally, Tedesco is hoping forward Romelu Lukaku will score his first goal at Euro 2024, as the 31-year-old has had three celebrations denied by VAR. Tedesco added, “VAR is delaying or completely stopping celebrations, so in the previous match, after three goals were disallowed, I waited a bit before celebrating. But sometimes we need emotion, so if I jump up or run to celebrate, I hope VAR won’t stop it again!”