At the start of the second half, Lukaku stayed in front and pushed to make it 1-1 – he and all the jubilant Belgian fans thought. Lukaku blew kisses and cheered but VAR ruled an offside and the goal was disallowed.
A couple of minutes before the end, Lukaku finally seemed to have scored a goal in regulation when he thundered the ball into the left-hand corner. But in the build-up phase, recently substituted Lois Openda had caught the ball with her hand – which was shown via a graphic where a green curve showed the contact, a new feature from the broadcast. And again VAR stepped in and disallowed a goal.
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Already in the seventh minute, Slovakia scored the winning goal. Ivan Schranz cut in 1-0 after a return from Koen Casteels, who stands when Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois was poked from the squad. There was chaos in the Belgian defense.
A couple of minutes earlier, Lukaku had a great opportunity from a couple of meters away, but Martin Dubravka in Slovakia’s goal made a brilliant save.
Clip: Watch Slovakia’s goal in the seventh minute
European Championship
Belgium
0 – 1
Slovakia
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Slovakia’s Ivan Schranz scored 1-0 in the EC match against Belgium. Photo: Themba Hadebe