Arsenal star Leandro Trossard earned himself a starting role for Belgium at Euro 2024, but his side got off to the worst possible start.
Belgium began their campaign at the European Championships with a shock 1-0 defeat to Slovakia, who remained defensively resolute after taking an early lead.
There were plenty of poor performers for Domenico Tedesco’s side, including Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne, but Trossard also failed to deliver, having come into the side after a strong campaign for Arsenal.
Trossard scored 17 times across all competitions under Mikel Arteta this season, and this included several strikes in key moments in big games. However, he has now been slammed for his display in the National side.
Leandro Trossard slammed for poor display in Belgium defeat to Slovakia
Belgian outlet Walfoot rated Trossard as Belgium’s worst player on the day, giving him a low 1/10 rating for his display, and claimed that the 29-year-old had his worst game for the National team yet.
“He chose his moment to offer his worst match, by far, under the Belgian jersey. A calamitous performance in which he literally missed everything, from A to Z. Even when he was righted in the second period, the Gunner did not take his head out of the water and should have come out much earlier,” they reported.
Leandro Trossard’s disastrous Belgium display could place his starting spot in jeopardy
Unfortunately for the Arsenal star, there is no hiding place when a team with as much quality as Belgium suffer a shock defeat in a tournament.
Trossard was handed a role in his favoured left wing spot, with Manchester City star Jeremy Doku initially starting on the right, but this did not work. Trossard was sloppy on the ball as he completed just 70% of his passes, and failed to complete a single dribble.
Whenever Belgium pushed forward with Trossard on the ball, he consistently failed to deliver the killer pass, and he was eventually replaced by Youri Tielemans in the 74th minute.
Reported Arsenal target Lois Openda delivered a promising cameo off the bench, as did PSV Eindhoven winger Johan Bakayoko, and if Belgium ring the changes for their next match, then it may not be a surprise to see Trossard brutally axed from their starting XI.
Arsenal players and transfer targets at Euro 2024
In this week’s episode of Cannon Fire – The Arsenal Insider Podcast, Will Jones and Rahul Lakhani discuss the European Championships. With 11 Arsenal players set to feature at the tournament, the pair debated which players could be fighting for their futures, and which are destined to succeed on the international stage.