Belgium fell to a slender 1-0 defeat against Slovakia in Frankfurt on Monday, with Ivan Schranz’s early opener proving to be the decisive goal in Group E. Speaking in his post-match press conference, Domenico Tedesco made no fuss about VAR’s involvement in the match, with the technology twice denying Romelu Lukaku throughout the course of the match.
The forward saw his first effort disallowed for an offside infringement, before a late strike was chalked off for a controversial handball against Loïs Openda. Any offence didn’t appear to be clear and obvious, and so the decision to deny the equaliser due to sensor readings within the ball sparked outrage amongst fans.
Tedesco cut a calm and composed figure as he addressed the gathered press though, acknowledging that “everyone is disappointed, but I think that’s only natural.”
“I want to be a good, fair loser,” suggested the Italian, “so I don’t think we should speak about the referee or the VAR. We trust those guys, we trust the referees and the VAR. If they decide it’s handball, then it’s handball. We accept it, and that’s it.”
“We can harvest that disappointment and make use of this defeat… there are certain positives that we can take away from the game.”
Belgium will be hoping to put their first points on the board when they face Romania in Köln on Saturday, 22 June. That match kicks off at 20:00 BST [21:00 CEST], and we’ll provide detailed coverage right here on FromTheSpot.