Kevin De Bruyne insists Belgium can learn from World Cup disappointment

Kevin De Bruyne believes Belgium have learned from their disappointing World Cup campaign.

The Red Devils were knocked out in the group stage at the 2022 tournament in Qatar and they enter Euro 2024 under head coach Domenico Tedesco, who was appointed in February 2023 succeeding Roberto Martinez.

Belgium kick off their campaign against Slovakia in Frankfurt and Manchester City midfielder De Bruyne insisted the team are ready to go ahead of their opening game on Monday.

He told a press conference: “Qatar is over now, we can’t change things, positively or negatively. It was a disappointment yes, but it was 18 months ago.

“This is a new tournament, a new coach, the team has changed quite a lot.

“We are all here to enjoy a good start to this competition. We can focus on positives or negatives from the past, the team is sharp and ready to start this tournament.”

Slovakia are competing in their third successive European Championship after finishing second in their qualifying group and head coach Francesco Calzona called on his side to aim for a “positive result”.

He said: “Belgium have very few shortcomings. They’re third in the FIFA rankings and that says a great deal about them. They might have had some injury concerns but they’ve got top class replacements.

“I think we need to give 100 per cent to try and make sure we get a positive result against a really top class opposition side.”

“We know that we’re by no means favourites for this match, Belgium are the favourites for this game, but it all comes down to the match itself.”