Belgium vs Romania prediction: EUROPE: Euro betting tips on match 2024-06-21 19:00.
[p]Belgium were on the wrong end of arguably the biggest shock from the opening round of Euro 2024 matches as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against underdogs Slovakia. That handed manager Domenico Tedesco his first defeat since taking over the Red Devils in February 2023, and it was also only the second time they’d failed to score while he’s been at the helm. [/p]
[p]The scoreline didn’t tell the whole story, with Belgium dominating most underlying metrics and VAR disallowing two goals, something key midfielder Amadou Onana pointed to when stating he wasn’t worried about his side’s chances of progression following the defeat. But they can’t afford another slip-up, and a pretty poor historical record against Romania won’t make comfortable reading with Belgium winning only one of the past five H2Hs (D1, L3) – albeit the last meeting was way back in November 2012. [/p]
[p]Romania pulled off a shock result of their own on matchday one, as they blew away Ukraine with a dominant 3-0 win – their biggest margin of victory in European Championship finals history – and but for the birth of his daughters, midfielder and opening goalscorer NicuČ™or Stanciu claimed the win gave him “the best day of his life”. Perhaps more crucially, the victory has put them in a strong position to progress to the knockout phase of the European Championships for the second time in their history. [/p]
[p]Romania actually entered this summer’s showpiece event in unremarkable form, winning none of their four prior matches to Monday. There were two clean sheets to end that winless streak, and another against Ukraine means that they could secure four consecutive shutouts for the first time since September 2015 here, albeit that will be a tall order against this Belgium attack.  [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Romelu Lukaku scored a brace in Belgium’s final warm-up game, and was denied another when two potential goals were ruled out against Slovakia, but manager Tedesco has backed him to “bounce back”. Although he was overshadowed by the goalscorers, Dennis Man played a key role in Monday’s win by assisting two Romania goals, building on the six assists he managed in the regular season for Serie B’s Parma. [/p]
[p]Hot streak: There hasn’t been a goalless draw in any of the 12 historical H2Hs between these two nations. [/p]