ADVERTISEMENT

France vs Belgium in numbers

Les Blues hammered the Red Devils 3-1 in the 1934 and they also won 4-2 in the 1986 third place play-off after extra time, which was the last time they did battle in a major tournament.

France also handed Belgium a 5-0 defeat in the group stage of the 1984 European Championship, a game Michel Platini scored a hat-trick.

Belgium, however, are unbeaten in their last three friendly clashes against France (W1,D2). Belgium won 4-3 in 2015 in the most recent tie, which Marouane Fellaini

In all competitions Belgium have a better statistics against France. They have won 30, lost 24 and drawn 19 against the 1998 champions of the World in 74 games.

ADVERTISEMENT

This will be France's sixth World Cup semi-final. They were beaten in their first three (in 1958, 1982 and 1986), but have won the last two (1998 and 2006), while Belgium have lost their only semifinals at the Mundial in 1986 against Argentina

Excluding shootouts, France have lost just one of their last 13 knockout games at the World Cup (W10, D2). That defeat was their 1-0 loss to Germany in the quarter-finals in 2014.

The Belgians are unbeaten in their last 24 games (W19, D5) and have won their last seven matches.

Romelu Lukaku has been directly involved in 20 goals in his last 13 games for Belgium (17 goals, 3 assists), while, Antoine Griezmann has scored seven goals in his last six knockout matches at the World Cup and European Championship, whereas, Belgium's haul of 14 goals from their first five World Cup games is the most at this stage since Brazil in 2002 (15 goals prior to the semi-finals).

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT