Italy vs. Belgium—Just What We Needed: A Brawl—What Happened Between Donnarumma and Lukaku

Italy-Belgium 0-2 was a night the Azzurri would like to forget entirely, from before the opening whistle until the final whistle. The final act of the evening at the Olimpico came after referee Siebert blew the final whistle, when Romelu Lukaku used his fingers to mimic the match’s score to Gigio Donnarumma. The Azzurri goalkeeper and captain did not take the gesture lying down, chasing after his opponent all the way to midfield. Harsh words and a few shoves were exchanged between the two, prompting the referee to issue yellow cards to both of them, as well as to Daniel Maldini, one of the players who had gathered around the two stars during the final confrontation—an incident that coach Roberto Mancini and, above all, Italian fans will remember as a full-blown nightmare.

The evening had, in fact, begun in the worst possible way even before kickoff. As the national anthems were played, part of the crowd in the stands booed “La Brabançonne,” the Belgian national anthem. The rest of the fans tried to drown out the boos with applause, but the damage was already done—and on an international scale. This incident comes at an already delicate time for Italian soccer, fresh off its third consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup, and just days after the uproar caused by some Juventus ultras’ failure to observe a moment of silence for Sandro Mazzola, which cost the Bianconeri a 10,000-euro fine from the Sports Judge.

On the field, the same scenario played out identically in both halves, with two individual errors handing Belgium the two decisive counterattacks. The visitors’ opening goal in the 21st minute came after Kevin De Bruyne stole the ball from Alessandro Romano’s feet and played a through ball to Mika Godts. Dodi Lukebakio’s second goal in the 69th minute, however, capitalized on a lapse by Nicolò Barella in the opponent’s attacking third and his teammates’ failure to drop back. In between, the Azzurri had squandered three clear chances to equalize through Kean, Gianluca Mancini, and Pio Esposito, before the head coach made a triple substitution, bringing on Scalvini, Frattesi, and Maldini for Coppola, Romano, and Esposito himself.

The statistics mercilessly highlight the Azzurri’s decline. In fact, Belgium hadn’t beaten Italy since November 13, 2015, when—with Antonio Conte on the bench—the Red Devils won 3-1 in Brussels: on that occasion, Kevin De Bruyne—among others—found the back of the net; eleven years later, he caused Alessandro Romano enormous trouble. Since then, the Azzurri had remained unbeaten in six consecutive matches against the Belgians, including victories at Euro 2016 and Euro 2020—the latter campaign culminating in the European Championship title under Mancini’s first tenure. Tonight’s defeat is therefore the first in eleven years against an opponent that historically struggled to beat Italy: Belgium now has five wins in 27 head-to-head matches, compared to Italy’s 17.

In the post-match interview, Mancini didn’t hide behind excuses and effectively acknowledged the validity of the boos at the Olimpico. “The boos are understandable. When you lose, they seem like a pretty normal reaction to me,” the head coach admitted to ‘Sky Sport’. “We just have to get to work. We know we’ll face more difficult matches like tonight’s, but we have to keep working without letting it get us down. In the first half, Belgium played better than us and made us suffer; at the start of the second half, we played well for 25 minutes and then conceded the second goal. That’s when the game was over. There’s still time; we have five games left to play, and we’ll try to win them. We’ll see how it goes.” Daniele Adani’s assessment was even harsher; he was among the most critical of the new Italian national team’s debut: “If we keep doing this—trying to measure up to so many teams that are playing in the World Cup—we’ve already lost,” said the former Fiorentina and Inter defender live on Rai channels. “We’re looking for something others already have; we’re giving new young players their debuts, and they’re already doing that. They’re ahead of us in many ways. We can try to spin it however we like, but we’re the only national team in the top 20 of the rankings that isn’t participating in the World Cup.”