De Bruyne Double Steers Belgium Past Turkey 3-0 in Nations League

What happened in Liege

Kevin De Bruyne scored a goal in each half as Belgium beat Turkey 3-0 at Stade Maurice Dufrasne on Friday, giving Mark van Bommel a first home win as Red Devils head coach and lifting the hosts to second in Group A1.

The 35-year-old Napoli midfielder needed only 10 minutes to break the deadlock, exchanging a give-and-go with Dodi Lukebakio before poking the ball through Abdulkerim Bardakci's legs and finding the bottom corner.

Lukebakio struck the woodwork twice — once before half-time when Ugurcan Cakir pushed a powerful shot onto the frame, and again early after the restart — while Turkey's Merih Demiral fired over from inside the six-yard box from Zeki Celik's low cross.

De Bruyne's second and Lukaku's seal

After Youri Tielemans regained possession just outside the box, he teed up De Bruyne, who curled a long-range strike into the top corner in the 59th minute. Substitute Romelu Lukaku wrapped up the scoring in the 76th minute, converting Charles De Ketelaere's low cross with ease.

Goalkeeper Senne Lammens preserved the clean sheet with a sharp save from Yunus Akgun as Turkey pressed late. Arda Guler created a match-high five chances for the visitors but could not find a finishing touch, FotMob reported. De Bruyne was replaced in the 82nd minute after creating three chances of his own.

Standings

Belgium moved to six points and second place in Group A1 behind France on seven, with Italy on four and Turkey still without a point after three straight Nations League defeats, according to BBC Sport and UEFA. Van Bommel's side had returned to winning ways after an earlier group setback, with familiar faces De Bruyne and Lukaku making the decisive difference alongside younger contributors such as Lukebakio.