Belgium wish Lille to be home territory for Wales clash

A huge wave of Belgians is expected to cross the frontier to invade the French city to watch their country take on opponents that De Bruyne called “a technically and defensively astute side.”

Belgium are on a high after their 4-0 rout of Hungary on Sunday that saw Chelsea forward Eden Hazard produce an inspirational display as captain. De Bruyne is counting on the Red Devils to produce more of the same.

“I can’t wait for this match, which will be like a home match for us because it’s right on the Belgian border.

“We’re expecting a lot of fans. We hope we can go all the way in this tournament.”

The one-sided performance against Hungary in Toulouse has encouraged Belgian hopes that they can emulate their 1980 feat of reaching the final, when they lost to West Germany.

“We’re into the quarter-finals, but we’ve done nothing yet,” said Wilmots, who will be without defender Thomas Vermaelen after he picked up a yellow card to trigger a one-match suspension.

But Belgium head to Lille as favourites and Wales manager Chris Coleman is happy about that after his side laboured to a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland when they were favourites. 

“We were edgy going into the Northern Ireland game as we were expected to win and we work better as the underdog,” said Coleman.

“We have proved that and people will expect Belgium to win.”“They had some criticism coming into the tournament and they lost the first game (against Italy).”

“But if you have a squad with that quality then any team you play against, apart from maybe two or three, Belgium are favourites.”

But after some topping their group ahead of England, and brilliantly beating Russia 3-0, Wales will fancy their chances, and Belgian satar Carrasco agrees. 

Belgium, who played Wales both in the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016 qualifying, failed to win any of their last three meetings against the British side.

Wales also held Belgium twice in Brussels and won 1-0 in Cardiff just over a year ago when Gareth Bale’s winner all but booked their place at the European Championship finals. As a striker with Atletico Madrid, Carrasco knows Real Madrid forward Bale well.

Carrasco said Hungary was “a great result” for Belgium “but we won’t be getting carried away as we haven’t won the Euro yet.” 

“Every match is different. Against the Welsh, we have to produce the same performance.”

“They’re a compact and well-drilled side.” “They’re not going to give us a lot of space. “And of course, they have Gareth Bale.”