Thibaut Courtois could only watch. The injured goalkeeper, replaced midway through the second half, saw his replacement Senne Lammens spill an 88th-minute shot and Mikel Merino tuck home the rebound to send Spain into the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 win. Belgium's golden generation were done.
Lammens, 24, who joined Manchester United last year, had been thrust into the spotlight after Courtois limped off. "Lammens doesn't cover himself in any glory. He didn't make a mistake for Man United last year but this is another pressure," said Stephen Warnock on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Senne Lammens' late error gifts Spain a 2-1 win, ending Belgium's golden generation era.”
The defeat likely marked the final bow of the four remaining members of the Red Devils' golden generation: Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne and Axel Witsel, all mainstays since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. That side beat Algeria 2-1 in their opening game of that tournament, a line-up that read like an all-star fantasy team: Hazard, Dembele, Kompany, Mertens, Fellaini off the bench. They topped their group in their first World Cup since 2002, reached the quarter-finals, then went one better in 2018 to reach the final four and win the third-place play-off. The same group reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 and 2020 before crashing out in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Critics say such a talented group should have achieved more. But for a nation of less than 12 million people, was international success ever a realistic aim? "To be a golden generation you have to win some gold and then you can be called that," said Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague. "It's put the expectations very high in Belgium. They were third in the last World Cup and that seems to have been forgotten. In the context of other teams... to demand Belgium to win is a maybe a little too much."
Belgium were dealt another blow before the game when Youri Tielemans pulled out of the warm-up injured. The next generation's time will come, but it felt a sad way for the old guard to depart. Spain now face France in the semi-finals.