LYON, France (Reuters) - Belgium captain Kevin De Bruyne launched an angry tirade against his teammates after his side were beaten 2-0 away to France in their Nations League clash on Monday.
Not for the first time, De Bruyne was visibly frustrated during the Group A2 match and afterwards told Belgian VTM television too many things had gone wrong in the game.
“I can’t say here what went wrong. I already did that to the team at halftime,” he said.
“I cannot repeat that in the media but it has to be better in every way. If the standard we want to reach is the best, but we’re no longer good enough to get to that level, then you have to give everything. If you don’t even do that, it’s over.
“I can accept that we’re not as good as in 2018,” the 33-year-old De Bruyne said of the side that reached the World Cup semi-finals in Russia.
“I was the first to see that, but other things are unacceptable. I’m not going to say what.”
But pressed in the interview he did point out one problem. "We are too many at the back. If you stay with six at the back, there is no connection. It is what it is. It is not about transition, but about people who do not perform their tasks.”
Coach Domenico Tedesco said he understood De Bruyne’s anger.
"He is our captain and has a huge winning mentality, so he can also react emotionally.”
Belgium made a lively start to the game but were quickly overwhelmed by a superior France side, who bounced back from last week’s loss to Italy in Paris to win comfortably.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)
