Croatia 0-2 Belgium recap - World Cup warm-up result as Youri Tielemans and Romelu Lukaku inflict defeat on England's group stage opponents

Youri Tielemans and Romelu Lukaku were on target as Belgium recorded an impressive 2-0 win over Croatia (England’s first opponents in the 2026 World Cup), as both sides kicked off their final preparations for the tournament.

Lukaku had only played 70 minutes this season for Napoli before his 18-minute stint today, but showed no signs of rust as he fired confidently over Dominik Kotarski to seal victory for The Red Devils, after Youri Tielemans indicated he has carried over his fantastic club form to the international stage with a sharp finish in the first half.

Jeremy Doku - who had had chances of his own but could not trouble the goalkeeper - fired a cross into the box that fortunately deflected to Tielemans via Josip Sutalo and Maxim De Cuyper, and the Aston Villa midfielder was the coolest man in Rijeka as he turned the ball home.

Croatia had chances of their own led by Luka Modric, who remains the side’s heartbeat at 40 years of age, and they could count themselves unlucky to concede Tielemans’ opener as Zlatko Dalic’s side displayed determined last-ditch defending on several occasions before the Belgians broke through.

But they lacked a real cutting edge up front and only forced one great save from Thibaut Courtois, while Modric’s departure with half an hour to go left them struggling for creativity in midfield.

Belgium underlined their status as favourites in Group G and face Tunisia before jetting off for North America, while Croatia will hope their attack can click next time out against Slovenia ahead of meeting England in Dallas.

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A wildly unpredictable Roland-Garros has entered championship week, the Giro Donne is in full swing and of course we will have the latest installment of Vingegaard v Pogacar at the Tour de France live and in full.

The Gallagher PREM is in its final stretch and shaping up for an exhilarating playoffs, while we will have plenty of 2026 World Cup action and analysis on TNTSports.co.uk starting with the live coverage of England, Spain, France, Portugal and the Netherlands' warm-up games this week plus:

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And that is all she wrote! Croatia did have chances and could perhaps count themselves unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, but Belgium were deserved winners, producing a composed performance that showed perhaps the likes of Lukaku, De Bruyne and Courtois have one more deep World Cup run left in them.

Lukaku seals the win for Belgium! It's only his second goal of the season but he's only played 82 minutes this campaign so that's a huge moment for the striker who will need to be in vintage form for Belgium to progress far this summer.

It was a textbook breakaway, with Vanakan lifting a sumptuous path right into Lukaku's path and he showed no sign of rus with the finish, smashing the ball over Kotarski.

Moro is lying down injured after a clash in midfield too.

Croatia lift a cross towards Budimir and he feels he was pulled to the floor, but the referee doesn't agree.

The hosts recover to win a throw in the final third yet that also comes to nothing and now Belgium can break...

And either side could still score the next goal.

Marco Pasalic cuts in from the right and drives across the top of the penalty area before unleashing an outswinging thunderbolt that (for once) Courtois was nowhere near.

Luckily for the Belgian it flashed just past the post, but out of nowhere that was very nearly 1-1.

Croatia have pulled themselves back into the match but they still need to find more incision in the final third. Right now they can barely get near the penalty area.

Belgium have been ALL OVER the hosts since they brought on their subs, and Pongracic almost giftwrapped a second goal for Lukaku with a horribly misplaced backpass to Kotarski.

The keeper manages a wry smile after sliding to clear the ball but that was a seriously close call. In other news, Axel Witsel has joined the fray.

Meunier latches onto a cross from deep and directs the ball across goal, where De Winter is fighting to attack it.

He can't get there but it's still a very tricky situation for Vuskovic to try and clear up, he does pretty well in the circumstances but there's still a hairy moment as he deflects the ball towards Kotarski.

Vanaken almost makes an immediate impact, attacking a set-piece with a bullet header that crashes into Kotarski's crossbar. It's the first real chance we've seen in ages.

And as if this half hasn't been disrupted enough already, now it's time for a cooling break. Of course that brings more changes with Matias Fernandez-Pardo and Romelu Lukaku the new front two for Belgium, while Kramaric, Nikola Moro, Nikola Vlasic and Kristijan Jakic are on for Croatia meaning they've now changed their entire team except Vuskovic.

De Bruyne, Saelemaekers, Onana, De Cuyper, Ngoy and Brandon Mechele make way for Thomas Meunier, Joaquin Seys, Koni De Winter, Hans Vanaken.

It's been a busy few minutes for Budimir as he now sees yellow, Rudi Garcia is preparing his own changes now for Belgium.

It's the best set-piece chance of the game so far as Budimir quickly gets a chance to get involved but his header is just over the bar.

There's a switch between the sticks as Dominik Kotarski takes the gloves, and five changes outfield. Three of the midfield four are gone with Mario Pasalic, Marco Pasalic (no relation) and Luka Sucic replacing Modric, Kovacic and Stanisic while Gvardiol makes way for Marin Pongracic and up front Ante Budimir is on for Musa.

Another prolonged spell of possession ends with Kovacic firing an absolute nothing ball from distance that flies harmlessly past Courtois' goal. They need something different here.

A Perisic long throw comes to nothing though Croatia remain in possession, as what looks like half the bench warms up in the opposite corner.

Andrej Kramaric has been battling adductor problems in the last few months but if he is fit then he's a likely game-changer.

He's the first Belgian to see yellow, for a high boot as Vuskovic headed the ball.

Can Croatia keep up their momentum from the first half? We'll see, both sides are unchanged.