Previous encounters
It's our first meeting with Belgium since the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but we have plenty of games to look back on and Gareth Southgate explains why he's anticipating a tough encounter
Preview
England boss Gareth Southgate knows his team will be facing their biggest test yet when they welcome Belgium to Wembley.
The Three Lions began their new UEFA Nations League campaign with a win over Iceland and a draw in Denmark last month, and they renew their campaign with the visit of Roberto Martinez’s men on Sunday.
And after suffering two defeats against the Red Devils at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, in the group stage and third-place play game, Southgate sees this encounter as a real measure of England’s progress since.
"They've got so many good players, and I know they might be missing one in particular, but they've got real quality and have produced results over a long period of time now,” he said ahead of the game.
"They're a bit of a benchmark, the real benchmark has to be France as world champions and Portugal as EURO champions and Nations League champions, but Belgium have been consistently ranked one in the world and that's a great test for us.
"They beat us twice during the World Cup and now we've learned a lot from those games, we have the chance to have a crack at them at Wembley which is a really exciting game to look forward to.”
It’s Belgium’s first trip to Wembley since 2012, when they were here for a warm-up game ahead of the UEFA EURO 2012 competition in Ukraine and Poland, so take a look back at that and some more previous clashes with them below.
We’ve played 23 times, with England winning 14, four draws and four victories for Belgium.
England 1-0 Belgium
2 June 2012
Wembley Stadium
A Danny Welbeck goal, his first for the England senior team, secured victory in this pre-tournament friendly at Wembley.
Aside from Welbeck’s well-taken finish, one notable incident came in the first half when Three Lions defender Gary Cahill was knocked over by Dries Mertens and suffered a serious jaw injury which ruled him out of the trip to Ukraine and Poland for EURO 2012 the following month.
England 1-0 Belgium
27 June 1990
Renato Dall’Ara, Bologna, Italy
This FIFA 1990 World Cup second round clash almost went the distance in Bologna, until that unforgettable goal from David Platt won it for Sir Bobby Robson’s men.
After a tense game with neither side able to made a breakthrough, it looked as though we were on for a penalty shootout.
But when Paul Gascoigne clipped a free-kick into the area, Platt watched the ball float over his head and waited, before executing a perfect volley over Michel Preud’homme and into the goal.
Belgium 0-2 England
21 May 1921
Stade à Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels
England ran out as winners in the first meeting of the nations in what was England’s 126th game.
A selection committee took the Three Lions to Brussels, where a goal in each half from Charlie Buchan and Harry Chambers sealed a win for England.
UEFA Nations League head-to-head
Three Lions beat Belgium
Goals from Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount seal an important three points for England
England 2-1 Belgium
By Andy Baber
Mason Mount and Marcus Rashford strikes helped England come from behind to beat Belgium 2-1 and overtake the world’s top-ranked team in their UEFA Nations League group.
Belgium took the lead through a Romelu Lukaku penalty after the former Manchester United striker was brought down in the box by Eric Dier with just 15 minutes on the clock.
But a Rashford penalty before the interval and a second-half Mount strike, which took a wicked deflection off Toby Alderweireld, saw England emerge victorious at Wembley and inflict a first defeat on Belgium in two years.
The result puts England top of Nations League Group A2, with two wins and a draw from their three games, as they boosted their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Gareth Southgate made nine changes to the team which defeated Wales 3-0 in a midweek friendly as Manchester City’s Kyle Walker returned to the starting line-up to earn his 50th cap for his country.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin was one of two players to retain his place after his memorable goalscoring debut and the Everton man linked up well with Rashford in the opening stages.
But after a promising start from the hosts, Belgium began to work their way into the game and came close to scoring in the ninth minute when Lukaku flashed a header wide.
Belgium appeared to take the lead two minutes later when Yannick Carrasco fired past Jordan Pickford, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by Thomas Meunier in the build-up.
The Three Lions did not heed Belgium's warning, though, and the opening goal finally did arrive on 15 minutes when Lukaku picked himself up after being brought down by Dier in the box and fired his penalty past Pickford.
Meunier almost doubled Belgium’s lead on 20 minutes, whipping a fearsome shot just wide, before England responded with an enterprising run down the right from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
England continued to search for a way back into the game and started to put pressure on Belgium with a significant spell of possession, although the visitors remained resilient in defence.
Set-pieces looked the most likely route to an equaliser for England and so it proved on 38 minutes when, following a couple of corners, the hosts were awarded a penalty when Jordan Henderson was dragged down by Meunier.
Rashford stepped up and sent his spot-kick high to his left as Simon Mignolet dived the wrong way to make it 1-1 and become the fourth Manchester United player to score in four consecutive England appearances.
The Three Lions almost went behind moments later when Lukaku found Carrasco with a clever back-heel but a scuffed shot from the latter let the hosts off as they went into the break all square.
The restart saw England look much more threatening in attack and a Calvert-Lewin header presented his side with a three-on-three before the move broke down with Rashford.
Runs from Alexander-Arnold and Walker forced corners as the momentum began to swing before Rashford raced down the left and found Calvert-Lewin, who mis-kicked his effort at goal.
England then took the lead on 64 minutes after Alexander-Arnold and Kieran Trippier linked up before finding Chelsea's Mount, whose shot took a freakish deflection to loop over a helpless Mignolet and into the goal.
Carrasco almost responded once again for Belgium in the 72nd minute, running onto a brilliant through ball from Kevin de Bruyne before stabbing the ball wide when one-on-one with Pickford.
And with the clocking ticking down, Southgate brought on Harry Kane and Reece James to freshen up the Three Lions as Belgium pressed for an equaliser.
But despite the best efforts of Roberto Martinez's team, it was actually England who came closest to scoring again.
Kane was unable to direct a free header from a corner on target on 82 minutes while Rashford traded passes with Declan Rice before firing a shot over the bar three minutes later.
Jadon Sancho came off the bench late on for Mount but England never looked in danger of conceding, seeing out the final minutes to seal only their second ever win over Belgium in a competitive fixture.
England (3-4-3): 1 Jordan Pickford (Everton); 4 Kyle Walker (Manchester City), 6 Harry Maguire (Manchester United), 5 Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur); 2 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), 7 Declan Rice (West Ham), 8 Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) (c), 3 Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid), 10 Mason Mount (Chelsea), 9 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), 11 Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
Substitutes: 20 Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) for Calvert-Lewin 67’, 17 Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United) for Henderson 67’, 14 Reece James (Chelsea) for Alexander-Arnold 78’, 23 Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) for Mount 90’
Substitutes not used: 12 Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), 13 Nick Pope (Burnley), 15 Conor Coady (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 16 Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), 18 James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), 19 Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), 21 Danny Ings (Southampton), 22 Dean Henderson (Manchester United)
