Old trends have returned at the European Championship. Boos during anthems. However, such and similar outbursts by the fans are benign compared to the ones the players had. After the victory over Slovakia and qualifying to the quarterfinals, Jude Bellingham pointed to his crotch, Declan Rice insulted Francesco Calzona – and Kevin de Bruyne’s behavior cannot be praised either.France narrowly eliminated Belgium from the tournament, de Bruyne had trouble coping with a heavy defeat. He was angered by the question of the Italian journalist Tancredi Palmeri about the national team’s constant failures and whether he feels sorry for the so-called ‘Golden Generation’.”You’re stupid! Who says this is the golden generation? You say? Okay if you say so. Just tell me, don’t you think that France, England, Spain and Germany also don’t have golden generations?” de Bruyne snapped at the Italian.##NAJAVA_MECA_8192026##And demonstratively left the room. Don’t even bother to talk to foreign press anymore. But he deigned to stand in front of Belgian media.While the Italian was making a fuss, the Manchester City star calmed down and was much more rational when giving his answer.”I am very disappointed. It’s always like that when we lose, we talked about it a few days ago. Is this a failure? If you are second, that is also a failure. The goal is to win, and we didn’t do that. If you look at all six tournaments, they were all unsuccessful. Only one team wins.”He also spoke about the tactics of Domenico Tedesco, who called him to a meeting before the match in order to explain to him what the plan would be, and to convey it to his teammates and convince them that it is good.”It’s a shame… We had a plan and we pretty much implemented it. We knew the French would have possession, but I think we defended well as a team. They didn’t create many chances, only a few shots from distance. There were our moments too, but they weren’t many. I understand that people want to see us attack, but… Our plan was good until they scored, with a deflection, I wouldn’t think too much about it. It’s unfortunate, we have to accept it,” said de Bruyne and continued:”I tried to do everything in my power. I played more defensively, to help the team. This is not what we wanted, although we were not one of the favorites. I think we let ourselves down in the opening game against Slovakia. It’s really difficult to analyze everything now”.Kevin De Bruyne calling a reporter stupid when questioned why Belgiums golden generation never won anything… 👊🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/qXez6iA9AY— Football Fights (@footbalIfights) July 1, 2024 This defeat could potentially mark the end of his international career…”It is too early to answer. Let me process this defeat. The season was long. My body has to rest, I will make a decision after the summer”, concluded Kevin de Bruyne.
