Belgium head coach Marc Wilmots has decided to leave Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini out of the team’s starting XI for their match against the Republic of Ireland.
Instead, Wilmots has gone for Tottenham Hotspur’s Mousa Dembele to act as the midfield pivot along with Zenit St Petersburg player Axel Witsel.
Club Brugge right-back Thomas Meunier also gets a rare start in Belgium colours, with the more experienced Laurent Ciman being dropped. While the exclusion of Fellaini takes away a bit of Belgium’s attacking threat, Dembele’s presence in the middle of the park could provide a lot more stability to the Red Devils.
Meanwhile, Martin O’Neill has made just one change to his lineup by bringing in midfielder Jeff Hendrick in place of forward Glenn Whelan. Here are the Belgium and Republic of Ireland confirmed lineups.
#BELIRL Official line-ups // Compos officielles! pic.twitter.com/yT9ipDjMoz
— UEFA EURO 2016 (@EURO2016) June 18, 2016
