“France going home”, “Scapegoated again?” - Fans worried as Deschamps drops 27-year-old from line-up for Euro 2024 Round of 16 clash vs Belgium

Fans have been left unimpressed as forward Ousmane Dembélé was not named in France's starting XI against Belgium in their Round of 16 Clash of Euro 2024. The match is set to take place on July 1, at Merkur Spiel Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany.

France qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second with five points in Group D, which also included Austria, Netherlands, and Poland. Belgium also came second with four points in Group E, along with Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

Fans took to social media and flooded with posts expressing their opinions on Ousmane Dembélé not making the starting line-up against Belgium. While some fans criticized head coach Didier Deschamps' decision to not include the 27-year-old Paris Saint-Germain winger, others questioned Les Bleus' chances in Euro 2024.

Here are some of the reactions on X:

One fan wrote:

"No dembele? Lol France going home."

Another added:

"Why is Dembele not starting ? He is being scapegoated again ? Isn’t he?"

"I dunno man, Dembele will eventually have to come on. Unless France plan on playing without the ball then it’ll work fine," chimed in another fan.

One account posted:

"Dembele benched, wow… Don’t like this, personally. Griezmann will naturally invert, and Kounde isn’t the sort of RB who’s going to carry your entire flank - seems a bit lopsided. Too passive, but should be more than enough to get past this Belgium side."

Another tweeted:

"Why would thuram start over Dembele lol"

"No wingers? We might be screwed…" posted one fan.

One user wrote:

"France dropping dembele and Belgium starting openda.👁️👁️"

While another wrote:

"Bad choice. Very very bad choice."

Didier Deschamps took charge as head coach of the side in 2012 and led them to FIFA World Cup glory in 2018 after the side finished as runners-up in the 2016 European Championships. This was followed by a win at the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League and a runner-up finish at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

---

Chris Sutton predicts winner of France vs Belgium in Euro 2024 Round of 16

BBC Sport columnist Chris Sutton shared his opinion on the Euro 2024 Round of 16 clash between France and Belgium. The former England forward has predicted that the Blues will defeat Belgium 1-0 and qualify for the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.

Sutton wrote (via BBC Sport):

"Belgium boss Domenico Tedesco has been getting as much stick as Southgate after the way they have started this tournament. France have been a big disappointment too, in that they have been pragmatic and boring to watch, and they only finished second in their group. They often start slowly, though, and I am not changing my mind now about them going on to win the whole thing."

France have won the UEFA European Championships twice in 1984 and 2000. Belgium were runners-up in 1980 and finished in third place in 1972 but are yet to win the tournament.