Item body
Belgium took two steps ahead of Group 2 of League A after Romelu Lukaku scored a brace in Iceland to also doom the hosts to relegation.
Iceland – Belgium, stats and photos
The game
–
Short of players, and with coach Erik Hamrén and his staff in quarantine, Iceland were shy at the start of the match, Lukaku taking advantage of a risky defensive gesture to deceive Rúnar Rúnarsson. But the hosts did not give up and equalized when Rúnar Már Sigurjónsson’s superb through pass found Birkir Sævarsson who beat Mignolet down to the ground.
-]]>
The Icelanders continued their momentum to hamper the Belgians, deprived of their key men Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne, but the Red Devils reversed the trend when a foul was made on Lukaku in the box and did justice to himself from the penalty spot. , signing his 55e goal for Belgium. Iceland were the most threatening for most of the second half but were unable to avoid relegation to League B.
The stats
- Belgium captain Lukaku brings his national scoring record to 55 goals
- Iceland have lost their last eight UEFA Nations League games and haven’t found their way to the net in five of those setbacks
- Belgium have won their 13 games against Iceland
- Belgium have scored at least one first-half goal in their last 15 competitive matches
- Belgium have only kept their clean sheet twice in their last seven UEFA Nations League games
Compos
Iceland : Rúnarsson; Magnússon (Traustason 86e), Ingason, Eyjólfsson, Sævarsson; Skúlason, Sigurjónsson (Thorsteinsson 69e), Pálsson (Hermansson 82e); Bödvarsson (Kjartansson 69e), Gudmundsson (Sigthórsson 82e)
Belgium : Mignolet; Boyata, Denayer, Alderweireld; Carrasco, Tielemans, Witsel, Meunier; Doku (Castagne 68e), Lukaku, Trossard (Vanaken 61e)
And then ?
Belgium will host England on Sunday 15 November while Denmark will play at home against Iceland.
–
