Not the caring, concerned kind, but the crunched-under-tackles variety. In the 35th minute, he gets up from one, limps around a bit, then takes off again without a worry. In the 37th minute, he’s hacked down again under a challenge from Taremi. And once more in the 38th minute, at which point the referee delivers a warning and awards Belgium a free kick.
De Bruyne is looking central to Belgium’s approach to this game, as they utilise the pitch’s width and send the ball in for him or Tielemans. That or cross it to Lukaku.
De Bruyne might need a zimmer frame by the end of this, though. He’s commented before on his national team’s ageing squad, and they are another week older than they were last week, when they drew with Egypt.
There will be eight added minutes to this first half.
Belgium 0-0 Iran, 44 minutes
