Belgium 3-1 Russia
Euro 2020 Qualifying Group I
Thursday 21st March 2019
The King Baudouin Stadium in north-west Brussels, opened in
August 1930 in the presence of Crown Prince Leopold. The 70,000 capacity
arena was original named the Jubilee Stadium (Jubelstadion), as it was inaugurated days after Belgium's 100th
anniversary. The opening match saw the home nation beat the Netherlands 4-1 in
a friendly international on the 14th September 1930. The stadium was renamed
the Heysel
Stadium (Stade du Heysel or Heizelstadion) in 1946 and became a major venue,
hosting the European Cup final in 1958, 1966, 1974, 1985, plus the old European
Cup Winners' Cup in 1964, 1976 and 1980.
Throughout the years Heysel wasn’t well maintained and
fell into inadequate condition and a sorry state, which was apparent at the
1985 European Cup Final. European finalists Juventus and Liverpool, had
expressed concerns at the state of the stadium, urging UEFA to move the match
to another venue. It later materialized that UEFA had only spent half an hour
inspecting the stadium.
The poor stadium conditions, coupled with crowd
trouble and inadequate stewarding are widely considered to have contributed to
the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 spectators lost their lives before the
match. The outer wall had been made of cinder block, and ticketless fans were
seen kicking holes in it to get in, plus the only escape route was at the top
of the terraces, with only three gates on each short side, obviously
insufficient for the 22,000 standing places on each terrace. Following the disaster
it never hosted football again and only used for the annual Memorial Van Damme
athletics meeting.
The ground was rebuilt in 1995 at
a cost of BEF 1,500 million (around €37 million) in 1995 and renamed King
Baudouin Stadium, after the Belgian monarch who had died two years previously.
The only remains of the old stadium is a renovated gateway near the main
entrance. The new structure has a two-tier wrap around horseshoe shaped stand
which runs behind both goals to the corners. There is a separate two-tier main
stand with a running track and facilities for field events.
Belgium v
Russia
Euro 2020 Qualifying Group I
Thursday 21st March 2019
The King Baudouin Stadium in north-west Brussels, opened in
August 1930 in the presence of Crown Prince Leopold. The 70,000 capacity
arena was original named the Jubilee Stadium (Jubelstadion), as it was inaugurated days after Belgium's 100th
anniversary. The opening match saw the home nation beat the Netherlands 4-1 in
a friendly international on the 14th September 1930. The stadium was renamed
the Heysel
Stadium (Stade du Heysel or Heizelstadion) in 1946 and became a major venue,
hosting the European Cup final in 1958, 1966, 1974, 1985, plus the old European
Cup Winners' Cup in 1964, 1976 and 1980. 
The poor stadium conditions, coupled with crowd
trouble and inadequate stewarding are widely considered to have contributed to
the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 spectators lost their lives before the
match. The outer wall had been made of cinder block, and ticketless fans were
seen kicking holes in it to get in, plus the only escape route was at the top
of the terraces, with only three gates on each short side, obviously
insufficient for the 22,000 standing places on each terrace. Following the disaster
it never hosted football again and only used for the annual Memorial Van Damme
athletics meeting.
The ground was rebuilt in 1995 at
a cost of BEF 1,500 million (around €37 million) in 1995 and renamed King
Baudouin Stadium, after the Belgian monarch who had died two years previously.
The only remains of the old stadium is a renovated gateway near the main
entrance. The new structure has a two-tier wrap around horseshoe shaped stand
which runs behind both goals to the corners. There is a separate two-tier main
stand with a running track and facilities for field events.
The largest stadium in Belgium
with a seated capacity of 50,093 was re-opened on the 23rd August 1995, as the
home of the Red Devils - the Belgium national football team(this should have
been ground no.666) One year after its relaunch it again hosted a major Euro
final, the remodeled stadium saw the 1996 European Cup Winners Cup final
between Paris St Germain and Rapid Vienna, then later the opening match of Euro
2000.
Euro 2020 Qualifying Group I matchday 1
Att.TBC
Weather:mild
Red Devils skipper Eden Hazard scored twice to spare
the blushes of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in a convincing 3-1 victory over
Russia. Courtois allowed Russia a soft equaliser after his error gifted a goal
to Denis Cheryshev, moments after Youri Tielemans opened the scoring with his
first international goal. Hazard scored a penalty just before half time after
he was fouled by Zhirkov and he sealed the victory with his second in the last
few minutes.
Belgium 3(Tielemans 14 Hazard 45pen 88)
Russia 1(Cheryshev 16)
Red card: Golovin - Russia (second yellow) 90
Admission 25 euros
#HeedHopper
Train Newcastle - London Kings Cross 1000 (Sunday 17th
March)
Eurostar - St Pancras to Brussels 0855 (Monday 18th)
Returned on Eurostar and LNER trains on Friday.
This year’s Euro city break for the
breadknife and I was four nights in Brussels. After a GBG session in King’s
Cross/Euston on Sunday we travelled under the English Channel on Monday
morning, arriving in the Belgian capital at 2pm. A hugely enjoyable week also
includes a day trip to Bruges, revisiting the city after that eventful day in November 2012.
Our holiday mostly evolved around visiting pubs, beer,
chocolate waffles and lots more beer, with our favourite drinking haunts being
Cafe Rose Red, Bierbrasserie Cambrinus in Bruges and Little Delirium, Booze ‘n
Blues, Delirium cellar in Brussels.
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