#2 Kevin de Bruyne keeps creating, his teammates keep missing
Just like in their 3-0 victory over the Irish a few days ago, playmaker Kevin de Bruyne took centre-stage once again. The £55m Manchester City man’s vision to pick out a teammate with a defence-opening pass and his expertise on the dead ball were on show against the Swedes in Nice.
However, his team-mates – Romelu Lukaku in particular – were unable to take advantage of De Bruyne’s adroit display in the attacking third. Lukaku failed to benefit from a De Bruyne pass on numerous instances - most notably in the 73rd minute, when he was released by the playmaker and was through on goal, but couldn’t get the better of the goalkeeper.
De Bruyne came close to scoring himself on two occasions, both of which were dealt with impressively by the goalkeeper.
His chance creation rate is head and shoulders above most players in similar positions, and Belgium have to look for ways to exploit de Bruyne’s special talent and convert these chances into goals.
