Tielemans Leads Belgium's Stunning Comeback Against Senegal
Youri Tielemans dragged Belgium back from the brink, then dragged them into the last 16.
Deep into stoppage time of extra time, with penalties looming and legs gone, the midfielder stood over the ball from 12 yards. He had already scored twice. He had already rescued his country once. He did it again.
The penalty, awarded after a long, fraught VAR check for Lamine Camara’s foul on Tielemans in the area, sealed a 3-2 win over Senegal in the World Cup round of 32 on Thursday and capped one of the tournament’s wildest turnarounds.
From 2-0 down to delirium
For more than an hour, Belgium looked finished.
Senegal, missing injured goalkeeper Édouard Mendy but brimming with belief, struck first on 25 minutes. Habib Diarra pounced to give the African side a deserved 1-0 lead, reward for their aggression and sharpness in transition.
Belgium, ponderous and predictable, never settled. Then came the moment that seemed to tilt the tie decisively.
Six minutes after the break, Ismaïla Sarr produced a goal worthy of any stage. Controlling a long, raking ball from Moussa Niakhaté on his chest with exquisite precision, he set himself in one movement and lashed his finish beyond Thibaut Courtois. It was his fourth goal of the tournament and one of its standout strikes, a perfect blend of technique and ruthlessness.
At 2-0, Senegal were cruising. They had come through a brutal group containing two-time champions France and an Erling Haaland-led Norway to reach the knockouts as one of the best third-place finishers. Now they were outplaying a European heavyweight.
Belgium, meanwhile, were unraveling. Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku both left the pitch in the 56th minute, changes that raised eyebrows and questions in equal measure. The team that had once been the face of a golden generation suddenly looked old, flat, and out of ideas.
Lukaku lights the fuse
Then Romelu Lukaku arrived in the story.
Thrown on as a substitute and starved of service for long stretches, he needed only a glimpse. With time draining away, he found it. In the 86th minute, Lukaku forced his way onto the scoresheet, smashing home to give Belgium a lifeline and, more importantly, belief.
The mood flipped in an instant. Senegal, so assured for so long, started to retreat. Belgium, with nothing to lose, surged forward.
Three minutes later, Tielemans struck for the first time. Arriving when it mattered, he drove home the equaliser in the 89th minute, dragging the match into extra time and transforming the night from post-mortem to revival.
Senegal, stunned, clung on. Belgium pushed but could not find a way through in the first 15 minutes of extra time. Tension replaced chaos. Every touch felt heavy, every mistake fatal.
VAR, drama, and a decisive kick
Then, right at the end of extra time, Tielemans burst into the box once more. Camara’s challenge sent him tumbling. The referee waved play on initially, only to be summoned to the monitor.
The stadium held its breath. Several minutes passed as the official studied the replays. Senegal’s players pleaded. Belgium’s waited, frozen.
The decision came: penalty.
Tielemans took responsibility. No hesitation, no sharing of duties. After 120 punishing minutes, he stepped up and buried his spot-kick, completing his hat-trick of decisive moments and turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 Belgian victory.
Senegal’s players sank to the turf at the whistle, their World Cup run over despite long stretches of control and a goal from Sarr that will live in highlight reels long after this tournament ends.
Belgium back among the last 16
For Belgium, this was more than just an escape. It was a return to a stage they once considered a given. Back in the round of 16 for the third time in four World Cups, they rekindled echoes of the sides that reached the quarterfinals in 2014 and the semifinals in 2018, while banishing some of the scars from their group-stage exit in Qatar four years ago.
The performance was flawed, chaotic, and late. It was also alive.
Next week in Santa Clara, California, Belgium will face either the United States or Bosnia-Herzegovina. After a night like this, the question is no longer whether they still have fight left in them.
It’s how far that fight can carry them.
