The final Group E encounter at Euro 2024 pitted Belgium against Ukraine in Stuttgart. It was an extremely tight game and one of real importance, as both teams were fighting to get into the final sixteen; going into this match, all four teams stood level on three points. Belgium and Ukraine met for the first time ever.
Leandro Trossard, Nevil’s right-wing counterpart for Belgium, started the game. Though there was an early chance for Romelu Lukaku on board, much of the opening period saw Adrian Beal’s team unable to fashion any really good chances.
For Ukraine, meanwhile, Oleksandr Zinchenko made his entrance in the 58th minute, thus reclaiming his place from Vitaliy Mykolenko. During this time, Trossard had already been withdrawn for Yannick Carrasco.
A draw for Slovakia and Romania in the concurrent match, 1-1, made it so that Ukraine’s fate would depend on their performance against Belgium. Ukraine cranked up the pressure in attack with good efforts through Ruslan Malinovskyi and Georgiy Sudakov but couldn’t find a breakthrough.
The match ended 0-0. But despite racking up four points, Ukraine finished last in their group — the first time that has ever happened at the tournament. Belgium will advance to the knockout stages where they will now play France on July 1.