DE BRUYNE FED UP WITH TEAM'S WEAKNESSES

Star skipper blasts Belgium teammates for unacceptable performance in loss to France

Belgium captain Kevin de Bruyne launched an angry tirade against his teammates after his side were beaten 2-0 away to France in their Nations League clash on Sept 9.

Not for the first time, the playmaker was visibly frustrated during the Group A2 match and afterwards told Belgian VTM television that too many things had gone wrong in the game.

“I can't say here what went wrong. I already did that to the team at half-time," he said.

"I cannot repeat that in the media, but it has to be better in every way. If the standard we want to reach is the best but we're no longer good enough to get to that level, then you have to give everything. If you don't even do that, it's over."

Belgium had reached the World Cup semi-finals in Russia but the 33-year-old admitted: "I can accept that we're not as good as in 2018. I was the first to see that, but other things are unacceptable. I'm not going to say what."

However, when pressed again in the interview after the match he did point out one problem.