France vs Belgium live updates

The last dance? Kevin De Bruyne briefly hinted at it in Cologne, talking about savouring every moment he has on the international stage and taking every opportunity to pass on his knowledge to Belgium’s younger players so they are ready, when the time comes, to go on without him. But when pushed, he backtracked just as quickly, saying he “hadn’t really thought about whether this would be the end of the road”.

Perhaps he was toying with us the way he had toyed with the Romania defence, leading Belgium to a crucial 2-0 victory to get their Euro 2024 campaign up and running. Perhaps he knows how long he has left with Belgium, with Manchester City, with football as a whole. Perhaps not.

Against Romania in his side’s second group game, De Bruyne was a joy to watch. Belgium needed that result and De Bruyne needed that performance. He had a difficult season at Manchester City, missing almost five months through injury, then made a huge impact on his return before fading slightly.

He has the quality to keep playing at this level for years, but he keeps making casual suggestions that his time is running out. If this is to be his last dance at international level, he is not ready to leave the stage yet.