Why isn’t Youri Tielemans playing for Belgium against Spain the World Cup quarterfinals?
The Belgian midfielder has not made the XI for the game.
Belgium will go into the fight for a place in the World Cup semi-finals without their captain, Youri Tielemans, after the Aston Villa star was forced to drop out of the side in the minutes leading up to the game.
The player appeared to suffer an injury in the warmup to the game after being selected to play from the start by manager Rudi García.
It is unclear at the stage what injury he has.
Hans Vanaken has replaced him in midfield in what is a huge blow to the side who overcame the USMNT in the previous round in a 4-1 rout fuelled by controversy over a Folarin Balogun red card ban suspension. In that game, Belgium lost another starting midfielder in Amadou Onana, who suffered an ACL injury ruling him out for a number of months.
Raskin and De Bruyne will start in the middle of the pitch against a Spain side who have also changed their midfield, as Barcelona metronome Pedri was not selected by Luis de la Fuente.
🇧🇪ÚLTIMA HORA | Cambio en la alineación de Bélgica
— Tiempo de Juego (@tjcope) July 10, 2026
🚑 Tielemans no jugará de inicio tras abandonar el calentamiento. Su sitio lo ocupa Vanaken pic.twitter.com/pvmXCYRuSe
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