KEVIN DE BRUYNE walked out of an interview after Belgium were stunned by Slovakia at Euro 2024.
The No3 team in Fifa’s world rankings were on the receiving end of a 1-0 defeat to Slovakia in Monday’s group stage opener.
Ivan Schranz’s seventh minute strike was enough to seal a surprise victory for his nation.
And Belgium must now get results against Romania and Ukraine to earn their spot in the knockout stages.
The Euro 2020 quarter-finalists fluffed several chances in front of goal, with striker Romelu Lukaku having two efforts chalked off by VAR.
And 32-year-old De Bruyne, who has 102 international caps, was in a bullish mood during his post-match interview.
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The Manchester City star is used to winning after sealing six titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League at the Etihad.
And he stormed off set when asked by the Belgian interviewer to answer a question in English.
Before his exit, De Bruyne had lamented his country’s lack of clinical finishing, as well as the individual mistakes that allowed Slovakia to seal victory.
He said: “It’s a shame. We played well for the first 20 minutes and then we made a mistake that was punished.
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“Then it took us a while to get back into the game. In the second half we improved.
“We would have deserved to win, we arrived, there were two goals disallowed, but we couldn’t score and that’s football.”
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Meanwhile, Belgium boss Domenico Tedesco refused to blame VAR for his side’s defeat.
He added: “It’s tough for me to speak now. If we would have won, I could probably share my opinion a little more.
“But we lost and I want to be a good or at least a fair loser. We shouldn’t be talking about VAR.
“We trust these guys, we trust the VAR and the refs and if they blow and say it’s handball we have to trust and accept it.”
Tedesco also came out in defence of Lukaku after the Chelsea flop’s dismal day in front of goal.
He noted: “Lukaku has been playing for Belgium for a long time and knows very well how to score goals.
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“He’s a top-class player, a great character and doesn’t need any help on that score.
“Everyone is disappointed but you can harness that and make use of this defeat. We weren’t able to win the game but there are positives we can take away.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
