GdS: De Ketelaere shows signs of confidence for Belgium with big hand in goal

AC Milan are hoping that Charles De Ketelaere could finally emerge from his difficulties towards the end of the season, and there were some signs of life in Belgium’s game last night.

La Gazzetta dello Sport write how De Ketelaere has been the subject of criticism over and over again from August to the present day, because he has no goals in 31 games despite costing over €30m and having scored 18 times for Club Brugge last year.

A period of acclimatisation is natural, but with the national team some shoots of recovery began to emerge as Belgium beat Germany 3-2 in Köln last night. De Ketelaere came on 20 minutes from the end in place of Romelu Lukaku and had a big hand in Kevin De Bruyne’s goal to make it 3-1.

The playmaker received the ball with his back to goal, down the left, controlled it and then launched Trossard onto the wing, who squared for De Bruyne to score. The Milan fans enjoyed it, so much so that the video of the goal immediately started circulating on social networks.

The playmaker spoke during the break for the national team about his difficulties at Milan so far but he also reiterated his feeling that he has improved a lot in the last month, and perhaps now we will begin to see it.

The numbers say that CDK has amassed only one assist in 31 games across all competitions and his last start was during the 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina on March 4. Since then it has been fragments of games off the bench, but Tedesco’s confidence in him and his exploits for the national team could light a spark.