Belgium 1 Netherlands 4: Depay double sees Roberto Martinez’s men destroyed by Holland in Nations League derby

SO much for Belgium’s golden generation.

Roberto Martinez’s men have been posing as future World Cup winners before each competition took place since 2014.

But not this time around, as the Belgian national team suffered a humiliating 4-1 loss to rivals Netherlands in their first Nations League match in Brussels.

Holland opened the scoring on 40 minutes through Tottenham ace Steven Bergwijn, whose impressive performance will give Antonio Conte much to think about.

Memphis Depay doubled the visitors’ lead just six minutes into second half and Denzel Dumfries put it to bed after 61 minutes.

But there was more misery for Belgium as Depay netted a fourth just four minutes later before Michy Batshuayi eased the blow during stoppage time.

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The hosts started strong as Timothy Castagne hit the crossbar from a tight angle on the left but it all went down hill after Romelu Lukaku got injured.

The Chelsea star clashed with Manchester City ace Nathan Ake and got back up to his feet before quickly realising he couldn’t continue and was replaced by Brighton’s Leandro Trossard on 26 minutes.

With Lukaku injured, Eden Hazard still in his usual poor form and Kevin de Bruyne on an off day, Netherlands broke the deadlock with Bergwijn’s stunning long-range shot leaving Simon Mignolet helpless.

The visitors put some more distance between their foes in the second half when Memphis picked up a wonderful through ball by Steven Berghuis in the area and beat Mignolet with ease.

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Louis Van Gaal’s men sealed a major victory just 10 minutes later when Berghuis’ long-range shot forced an impressive save from the ex-Liverpool keeper.

But Daley Blind picked the rebound on the left and delivered a wonderful low cross to the far post that set Dumfries in front of open goal.

The final nail in the coffin came soon after when Virgil van Dijk’s beautiful cross from his own half was headed down by Blind who set up Memphis for his second of the night.

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Belgium thought they got a consolation prize on 77 minutes when Castagne hit the back of the net.

But VAR deemed that the Chelsea outcast and the hosts’ best player Batshuayi, of all people, was offside in the build-up.

Batshuayi, though, would not be denied in the third minute of stoppage time when he beat Jasper Cillessen from close range after a beautiful cross by Toby Alderweireld.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk