Defeat to Spain will surely prove World Cup swansong for multiple members of Belgium’s best batch of talent to date

Nothing gold can stay, indeed, but Belgium’s greatest generation did themselves proud in a North American swansong. The manager, Rudi Garcia, and his players recovered from a thorny group stage to give Spain a stern test in this quarter-final, with Belgium only bowing out after their vital veterans were forced out of action.

Friday’s warm-up compounded Garcia’s struggles to pick his ideal team. Amadou Onana entered the stadium on crutches, the victim of a torn ACL in the last-16 win over the USA. Zeno Debast was omitted as Belgium and Sporting disagreed on whether the defender was fit enough to play, having only made the bench once this summer. Minutes before kick-off, the big blow: Youri Tielemans being erased from the teamsheet after suffering an injury in the warm-up.

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