Defending champions Portugal were knocked out of EURO 2020 by Belgium in the round of 16 at a sweltering Seville last night, with Belgium now facing Italy in the quarter-finals in Munich. Portugal manager Fernando Santos made a few changes to his side, with Bruno Fernandes staying on the bench after he was dropped for the match against France, while Renato Sanches and Joao Palhinha started in midfield alongside Joao Moutinho. Belgium, on the other hand, put out the side everyone expected them to play, with Eden Hazard captaining his country once again. The game was quite cagey and slow-paced, as both sides were wary of making a mistake, as well as due to the heat, and there were no real clear-cut chances for either side in the first half. However, the younger Hazard, Thorgan, gave Belgium the lead with a superb finish from outside the penalty area just before half-time, and Portugal then came out on the attack in the second half. Portugal had several chances to score, the best of which came late in the second half when Raphael Guerriero hit the post with a first-time shot from just inside the area. Joao Felix would send a couple of shots close as well, while the game also became quite tetchy, with a number of fouls and bookings. Belgium had to substitute Kevin De Bruyne minutes into the second half after he failed to run off an injury picked up due to a bad challenge from Palhinha in the first half, and Eden Hazard also went off late in the second half with what looked like a hamstring complaint. However, Belgium were able to repel these waves of Portuguese attacks, and booked their spot in the quarter-finals of EURO 2020, with this likely to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s final appearance at a European Championship. Check out our analytics report from this match which has all the key data, statistics and visualisations.
EURO 2020 analytics: Belgium vs Portugal – watch our video
