One of the pre-tournament favourites, Belgium fell to a stunning 1-0 loss to Slovakia in Group E at the European Championship on Monday, in a controversial game where Romelu Lukaku had two goals ruled out by video review.
Slovakia struck in the seventh minute through forward Ivan Schranz and then survived a string of misses by Belgium record scorer Lukaku, whose two second-half goals were overturned after first being given by the match officials, and all that playmaker Kevin De Bruyne could create.
Slovakia’s deserved win also was preserved by defender Dávid Hancko’s brave goal-line block that left him sprawled in the netting with a face injury inflicted by a teammate’s knee.
At the final whistle, the Slovakia squad and staff danced in front of their fans in the 45,181 crowd at the Waldstadion as their choice of victory music, the modern soccer anthem “Freed From Desire,” boomed out.
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