Alexis Saelemaekers became the second AC Milan player to score at the World Cup, completing Belgium’s rout of New Zealand.
Following Rafael Leao’s lovely finish in Portugal’s 5-1 hammering of Uzbekistan, and with Mike Maignan having saved a penalty for France earlier in the night, there was yet more good news regarding Milan players overnight.
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In truth Belgium had already put the game to bed by the 72nd minute when Saelemaekers came on, but it was a good time to get in on the act. He took his goal nicely too, hitting a cut-back from Romelu Lukaku first time that seemed to wrong-foot the goalkeeper.
In their player ratings published after the final whistle, GOAL gave Saelemaekers one of the highest scores (9 out of 10), adding: “Got his goal right at the end after looking dangerous leading up to it.” It is only his third goal for the senior national team.
What remains to be seen is whether Saelemaekers can get his starting spot back in view of the knockout stages. Rudi Garcia chose to go with Leandro Trossard and Jeremy Doku as the wingers, so the Milan man faces a fight for a place on the flank when the round of 32 begins next week.
Good!