Garcia says Belgium have laid a foundation by staving off Nations League relegation

Rudi Garcia believes that Belgium has laid a foundation for future success by removing the relegation from the top layer of the Nations League.

Belgium played the leading role in relegation to League B when they members a humiliating 3-1 defeat against Ukraine members in the first stage of their promotional registration play-off on Thursday.

But they came back to achieve a 4-3 aggregated victory on Sunday and scored three goals in the last 20 minutes of the second stage on a memorable outing in Cegeka Arena.

The first finish of Maxim de Cuyper of the pass from Jeremy Doku finally broke the resistance of Andriy Lunin in the 70th minute, then Lukaku scored twice to seal a 3-0 victory in the night-volleying from a Kevin de Bruyne-Pass for his first.

Garcia, who replaced Domenico Tedesco in January, now hopes to build on the Escape Act of Belgium.

Thinking about their defeat on the first leg, he told reporters: “It was not a mentality problem. It was a trust problem.

“I gave them confidence by telling them that they are individual and collective quality players.

“I also learned a little Dutch and said it in Dutch in the dressing room:” We did it “. A good foundation has now been laid.

“I think we can get far with that. We are now starting with the qualifications of the World Cup to win all games, so that we don't have to work in the play-offs of March 2026.”

What. A. victory. #Belukr pic.twitter.com/wld1hmgd2

– Belgian Red Devils (@belreddevils) March 23, 2025

Lukaku now has 88 goals in 122 performances for Belgium, while De Bruyne has three targets for his last three international trips (two goals, one assist).

“Everyone knows the qualities of De Bruyne and Lukaku,” Garcia said about the duo. “They are the leaders of the team. Tonight they were very good at their role.

“Everyone was good. Doku made sure that we could be dangerous in the opponent's criminal area.

“The performance of everyone must be emphasized and not only that of our leaders. But the leaders played their role and that is very important for a coach.”