Kevin De Bruyne score one goal and made the other for Belgium to secure a rare 2-1 win over Wales in Brussels and keep the Red Devils’ slim chance of reaching the Nations League semi-finals alive. De Bruyne claimed before the game that he was “bored” of facing Wales on the international stage, but Belgium had won just two of the previous eight meetings between the sides over the last 10 years.
The same two players combined for the second goal eight minutes before half-time as this time De Bruyne’s teasing cross left Batshuayi with a tap-in for his 26th international goal in 46 appearances. To their credit, Wales did not give in and got back into the game thanks in large part to the impressive Brennan Johnson. The Nottingham Forest forward’s surging run and cross teed up Kieffer Moore to halve the arrears five minutes into the second half. Moore then gave way to Bale for the final 25 minutes, but the only impact the LA Galaxy star made was getting harshly booked for taking his protests towards an overturned Belgium penalty too far.
Turkish referee Ali Palabiyik wrongly pointed to the spot when Joe Morrell produced a perfectly timed tackle on De Bruyne inside the area. That decision was overturned after a VAR review and Palabiyik made another extremely harsh call when Belgium coach Roberto Martinez was sent off from the touchline late on for wasting time. But the side ranked second in the world comfortably held out to remain three points behind the Netherlands at the top of Group A4.
Good