England 0 Belgium 1
England’s 1-0 defeat to Belgium last night may have been as exciting as a wet weekend in Antwerp but Michy Batshuayi conjured up one moment of magic that both he and fans will never forget.
Batshuayi even managed to outshine Adnan Januzaj, who scored the only goal of a tedious game with a delicately crafted shot that curled its way past Jordan Pickford into the English net.
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Batshuayi had a front-row seat for the strike, and as the ball bounced back out of the goal the Chelsea forward went to smash it back in by way of celebration. But bear in mind this is Batshuayi we’re talking about, and the Blues hitman hasn’t been at his sharpest of late. He missed numerous chances against Tunisia last Saturday but surely now he couldn’t fail to find the back of net?
But he did. Batshuayi somehow contrived to clatter the ball against the upright, and it rebounded off the woodwork and whacked him flush in the face.
“That sums up his luck at the moment,” chortled Ian Wright on ITV, one of millions who couldn’t stop laughing for the rest of the match.
To his credit, Batshuayi took the mockery on the chin, which may have been sore after the ball in his face.
As his teammates celebrated their win, Batshuayi logged onto his Twitter account and unsurprisingly found himself a meme. “Ahahha I knew I would be f***** the minute I come to my mentions [sic],” he wrote to his followers. “Why am I so stupid bro. Still hurts.”
He then uploaded a photograph of himself about to blast the ball into the empty England net, with the caption: “The second just before I knew I f*cked up.”
As Paddy Power tweeted: “There’s been some wonderful football, and incredible drama so far at this World Cup. Michy Batshuayi celebrating a goal by kicking the ball off the post and straight into his own face tops the f******g lot though.”
Belgium’s victory means they finish top of group G and will now face group H runners-up Japan in the round of 16 in Rostov-on-Don on Monday at 7pm. England play group H winners Colombia in Moscow at 7pm the following day.
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