Euro 2024 - Belgium 0-1 Slovakia: Romelu Lukaku denied twice by VAR as Red Devils suffer shock defeat in Group E opener

Published on Jun 17, 2024

Much-fancied Belgium experienced a disappointing start to their Euro 2024 campaign after losing out to much lower-ranked Slovakia 1-0 in their Group E opener.

Ivan Schranz was Slovakia's hero, capitalising on a Jeremy Doku error and collecting the deflection from Juraj Kucka's strike, before guiding the ball expertly into the far corner - a move that survived extensive VAR review.

Romelu Lukaku was not quite so lucky. Twice Belgium's leading scorer had the ball in the back of the net in the second period, and twice VAR intervened to chalk goals off.

Lukaku was ruled offside when slamming home Amadou Onana's cross in the 56th minute, before rounding off a smart move to plant Lois Openda's cross beyond Martin Dubravka in the final minute of the 90.

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At first glance, there looked to be very little wrong with the latter, before VAR spotted an Openda handball in the build-up, and recommended referee Halil Umut Meler take a second look. He did, and duly took the advice of the video official, denying Lukaku once more.

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Stats: Story of the match

So far in Group E...