Belgium will face France in the Euro 2024 last 16 after finishing second in Group E following a goalless draw against Ukraine.
All four teams earned the same amount of points with Romania finishing top on goals scored as Belgium stumbled into the knockout phase having lost their opening game 1-0 to Slovakia.
The Red Devils failed to build on their 2-0 victory over Romania while Ukraine couldn’t find a crucial goal to turn the group on its head, finishing bottom and becoming the first team to exit the group stage with four points since the tournament was expanded.
Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium lacked a cutting edge despite the best efforts of Kevin De Bruyne and only created one significant moment. De Bruyne played in Romelu Lukaku with a smart pass but he could not make proper contact with his shot which was kept out by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Ukraine were more dangerous, with Georgiy Sudakov’s stretching effort straight at goalkeeper Koen Casteels while Roman Yaremchuk inexplicably tried to pass across goal when he was in a seemingly better position to shoot.
Belgium has better control in the second half yet dropped off in the final 10 minutes. Ukraine’s Ruslan Malinovskyi almost caught Casteels out from a corner, whipping an effort to the near post which the goalkeeper parried away on the goalline.
Sudakob could have won it late on and sent Belgium home in the process but he shot straight at Casteels after a driving run.
