Belgium 4-3 Wales: De Bruyne nets winner to end Bellamy´s unbeaten start

Craig Bellamy’s unbeaten start to life as Wales’ head coach came to an end following a 4-3 defeat against Belgium at the Stade Roi Baudouin on Monday.

Bellamy was aiming to match the Welsh record of going 10 games undefeated set under Mark Hughes between 2001 and 2003, but fell short in a crucial World Cup qualifier.

Kevin De Bruyne struck the decisive blow in the 88th minute, arriving late at the back post to tuck Youri Tielemans’ ball into the box past Karl Darlow to seal the three points.

The result saw Wales slip to second in Group J after North Macedonia’s 1-0 win over Kazakhstan, while Belgium are now three points behind them with two games in hand.

Belgium were given the chance to take the lead from the spot in the 15th minute when De Bruyne’s shot struck the arm of Brennan Johnson inside the Wales penalty area.

Romelu Lukaku stepped up and sent Darlow the wrong way before Tielemans doubled Belgium’s lead four minutes later with a fine finish into the roof of the net.

The Red Devils moved three goals clear just before the half-hour mark when Jeremy Doku cut inside from the right and squeezed a left-footed strike beyond the palms of Darlow.

26:55 – After 26 minutes and 55 seconds, the @BelRedDevils took their third-fastest 3-0 lead over the past 15 years, with those two other games ending in 8-1 (against Estonia in 2016) and 9-0 (against Gibraltar in 2017) respectively. Hot. pic.twitter.com/ah0DMnXSgE

— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) June 9, 2025

But Wales were handed a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when Matz Sels tangled with Chris Mepham inside the box, with Harry Wilson dispatching the resulting spot-kick.

And just six minutes after the restart, the visitors got to within one when Sorba Thomas rounded off a sensational flowing move with a cool first-time finish from Wilson’s pickout.

Johnson then atoned for his earlier error in the 69th minute to complete the turnaround when he nodded Thomas’ header back into the box past the stranded Sels.

Lukaku thought he had scored the winning goal eight minutes from time, but what would have been his 90th international goal was ruled out after the ball had gone out of play.

But there was to be more late drama as Rudi Garcia’s side dusted themselves down and sealed the win late on, with De Bruyne on hand to settle a seven-goal thriller in Brussels.

Data Debrief: De Bruyne haunts Wales again

Belgium looked to be cruising after racing into a comfortable lead in the first half. Indeed, after 26 minutes and 55 seconds, they took their third-fastest 3-0 lead over the past 15 years, with those other two games ending 8-1 (against Estonia in 2016) and 9-0 (against Gibraltar in 2017) respectively.

And it just had to be De Bruyne who had his say against his favourite opposition on the international stage. The midfielder has scored more goals against Wales (five) than he has against any other opponent in his international career.

Lukaku also continued his fine scoring form for the Red Devils. Since the start of 2023, no player has netted more times than the Napoli striker for a European nation (21).

Belgium are now unbeaten in their last 42 qualifying matches (EUROs/World Cup) since a 1-0 loss at Wales in June 2015 (W36 D6). Among European nations, only Italy (56 between 2006 and 2017) and England (43 between 2009 and 2019) have had longer unbeaten runs in qualifying.