Brighton’s Leandro Trossard and Leicester’s Dennis Praet scored their first Belgium goals in a crushing World Cup 2022 qualifying win over Belarus.
Michy Batshuayi got the first before Hans Vanaken’s volley made it 2-0 to the number one team in Fifa’s rankings.
Trossard’s exquisite finish from 22 yards extended the lead before Jeremy Doku added the fourth before half-time.
Praet netted the fifth, late goals by Christian Benteke, Trossard and Vanaken completing the rout.
The result lifted Belgium, with seven points from three games, to the top of Group E.
The Czech Republic had started the day at the summit but dropped to second after losing to Wales.
Belgium boss Roberto Martinez could even afford the luxury of leaving star players Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku on the bench for his team’s third match of this qualifying campaign.
They were not required as Belgium eased to victory, Martinez’s side 5-0 ahead inside 50 minutes as they opened up a three-point lead at the top of the group.
Before kick-off, the Belgium team came on to the field wearing black T-shirts featuring the words “football supports change”, in reference to the well-publicised plight of migrant workers in Qatar, hosts of the next World Cup.
It followed similar messages to those promoted by the Netherlands, Norway and Germany teams in the past few days.
Line-ups
Belgium
Formation 3-4-3
- 12Mignolet
- 2Alderweireld
- 4DenayerSubstituted forBoyataat 45′minutes
- 5VertonghenSubstituted forDendonckerat 64′minutes
- 15Meunier
- 19PraetSubstituted forTielemansat 71′minutes
- 17Vanaken
- 10T Hazard
- 11Trossard
- 23BatshuayiSubstituted forBentekeat 64′minutes
- 22DokuSubstituted forJanuzajat 77′minutes
Substitutes
- 1Kaminski
- 3Boyata
- 6Dendoncker
- 7De Bruyne
- 8Tielemans
- 9Lukaku
- 13Casteels
- 14Mertens
- 16Saelemaekers
- 18Januzaj
- 20Benteke
- 21Castagne
Belarus
Formation 5-4-1
- 1Gutor
- 13PodstrelovSubstituted forSignevichat 45′minutes
- 3Pavlovets
- 4Naumov
- 5Polyakov
- 2Yuzepchuk
- 22Stasevich
- 15KislyakSubstituted forMaevskiat 61′minutes
- 23KendyshSubstituted forBakharat 87′minutes
- 9NgomeSubstituted forSavitskiyat 45′minutes
- 17LisakovichSubstituted forKlimovichat 75′minutes
Substitutes
- 6Klimovich
- 7Laptev
- 8Savitskiy
- 10Bakhar
- 11Signevich
- 12Chichkan
- 14Yablonski
- 16Pavlyuchenko
- 18Maevski
- 19Shvetsov
- 20Antilevski
- 21Bordachev
Live Text
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Match ends, Belgium 8, Belarus 0.
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Second Half ends, Belgium 8, Belarus 0.
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Goal! Belgium 8, Belarus 0. Hans Vanaken (Belgium) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Adnan Januzaj.
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Substitution, Belarus. Ivan Bakhar replaces Jury Kendysh.
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Attempt missed. Leandro Trossard (Belgium) left footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right.
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Attempt blocked. Christian Benteke (Belgium) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
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Attempt saved. Hans Vanaken (Belgium) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Christian Benteke.
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Attempt missed. Toby Alderweireld (Belgium) left footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Hans Vanaken.
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Attempt saved. Christian Benteke (Belgium) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
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Attempt saved. Thorgan Hazard (Belgium) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Thomas Meunier.
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Substitution, Belgium. Adnan Januzaj replaces Jéremy Doku.
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Goal! Belgium 7, Belarus 0. Leandro Trossard (Belgium) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Jéremy Doku with a through ball.
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Substitution, Belarus. Vladislav Klimovich replaces Vitali Lisakovich.
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Attempt saved. Hans Vanaken (Belgium) header from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the centre of the goal.
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Corner, Belgium. Conceded by Aleksandr Pavlovets.
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Dedryck Boyata (Belgium) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Mikalay Signevich (Belarus).
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Substitution, Belgium. Youri Tielemans replaces Dennis Praet.
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Goal! Belgium 6, Belarus 0. Christian Benteke (Belgium) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Toby Alderweireld with a cross.
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Attempt saved. Thomas Meunier (Belgium) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Leandro Trossard.
