KEVIN DE BRUYNE returned to the Belgium side in style as he assisted and scored to complete an impressive comeback against Denmark.
Roberto Martinez’s side were totally outplayed by the Danes in the first half, as the No1-ranked team in the world went into the break a goal down thanks to Yussuf Poulsen’s second minute strike.
But De Bruyne was introduced at half-time as he returned from the acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture that he suffered in Man City’s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea.
And it took the 29-year-old just nine minutes to completely change the complexion of the game.
As Romelu Lukaku drove Belgium forward into the Denmark penalty area, he pulled the ball back into the path of De Bruyne.
And the Man City playmaker looked set to pull the trigger but instead found Thorgan Hazard with a sublime pass across the box for the Borussia Dortmund man to tap home.
Just 16 minutes later De Bruyne was at it again, this time finishing off another wonderful Belgium move.
Lukaku was involved once more as he held up the ball brilliantly. It was eventually worked inside to Eden Hazard and the Real Madrid star found De Bruyne in space on the left.
And the PFA Player of the Year made no mistake from the edge of the box, rifling low into the corner beyond the despairing dive of Kasper Schmeichel.
De Bruyne’s hand in his team’s first goal makes him the only European player to have racked up an assist in each of the last four major tournaments.
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Belgium’s comeback came after the two teams paid their respects to Christian Eriksen in the tenth minute of the game.
The Dane, who wears the No10 shirt for Denmark, suffered a cardiac arrest during his team’s match against Finland on Saturday and is now recovering in a Copenhagen hospital just yards away from where his side faced Belgium.
Meanwhile, the victory sends Belgium through to the last 16 as they added to their 3-0 win over Russia on Saturday.
Providing they take at least a point from their final match against Finland, Belgium will top Group B and face one of the third-place qualifiers in the second round.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
