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Belgium came from a goal down to beat Türkiye 2-1 on Thursday in the UEFA Nations League, with Kevin De Bruyne and Charles De Ketelaere scoring within four minutes of each other after Arda Guler had put the hosts ahead.
The result at Göztepe Gürsel Aksel Stadium leaves Türkiye without a point in Group A1, with a record of no wins, no draws and five defeats. Belgium moved to nine points from three wins and two defeats.
Türkiye took the lead in the 20th minute when Guler curled a left-footed free kick into the top left corner. The set piece came after Guler had been fouled in the attacking half by Nicolas Raskin, one of several free kicks he won in the opening stages.
It was the only goal Türkiye scored on a night when they were short of clear chances before the break. Orkun Kokcu’s shot from outside the box in the 26th minute was blocked, the hosts’ only other first-half attempt in the match record.
The visitors answered in the 27th minute. Jérémy Doku set up De Bruyne, who struck a right-footed shot from the centre of the box into the high centre of the goal to level the score.
Three minutes later Belgium were in front. Ugurcan Cakir had just saved a left-footed effort from Diego Moreira, set up by Maxim De Cuyper, when De Ketelaere finished from very close range into the bottom left corner. De Cuyper was credited with the assist.
Türkiye’s Ozan Kabak was shown a yellow card in the 32nd minute for a foul on De Ketelaere. Belgium went into the interval 2-1 ahead, with the fourth official signalling no added time.
The hosts pushed for an equaliser after the break but found Senne Lammens in good form in the Belgium goal. The goalkeeper saved efforts from Guler in the 53rd and 76th minutes, Baris Alper Yilmaz in the 60th, Deniz Gul in the 82nd, Yunus Akgun in the 83rd and Hakan Calhanoglu in the second minute of stoppage time.
Calhanoglu, introduced in the 58th minute for Kokcu, also had a shot blocked in the 66th minute and another narrowly miss to the left in the 67th. Gul replaced Enes Unal in the same spell, and Türkiye later brought on Zeki Celik, Salih Ozcan and Can Uzun.
Belgium threatened on the counter. De Bruyne tested Cakir shortly after the restart, and Timothy Castagne fired wide in the 75th minute. Hugo Cuypers, a substitute, forced another save from Cakir with a long-range shot in the 89th minute. Ismail Yuksek was booked for a bad foul in the 50th minute, the second Türkiye yellow card of the match.
After three minutes of added time, Belgium saw out the closing moments, with Hans Vanaken coming on for Raskin in the 93rd minute. Leandro Trossard, Dodi Lukébakio, Mika Godts and Cuypers also entered during the second half.
Group A is the top tier of the Nations League, the competition UEFA launched in 2018 to replace many friendly fixtures with ranked, divisional matches. Türkiye leave Izmir with their five Group A1 matches all lost and no points on the board.
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Set as preferred source
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