In this first-ever meeting between the two sides, the odds were firmly stacked against Liechtenstein against their far more illustrious opponents Belgium, with the margin of victory for the visitors the only real question mark regarding the outcome.
As expected, Rudi Garcia’s men dominated possession, seeing over 80% of the ball in the opening quarter-hour. That, though, didn’t result in clear opportunities, as the Belgians’ best chance came from a free-kick. However, Maxim De Cuyper’s shot was saved before the Brighton man sliced an effort wide shortly after.
It took until just before the half-hour mark for the Red Devils to find the breakthrough and it came via De Cuyper when he superbly headed in from Thomas Meunier’s cross into the box.
Garcia would have wanted this to open the floodgates, but the home nation did well to go into the break just 1-0 down.
After taking almost 30 mins to find the back of the net in the first half, Belgium struck much quicker after the restart, as Youri Tielemans produced a stunning volley from outside the box to double their lead less than 30 seconds into the second period.
The floodgates did in fact open from there, as Arthur Theate headed home his nation’s third goal before Kevin De Bruyne slid in the fourth with a little more than an hour on the clock.
Tielemans added a fourth second-half goal for the Red Devils and fifth in total when he put away his spot-kick on 70 minutes after Theate was fouled in the box.
The scoring was rounded off in stoppage time by Malick Fofana, wrapping up a comfortable victory for the Belgians who are now just three points behind first-place Wales having played two games fewer.
Garcia’s men will look to continue their qualifying momentum at home against Kazakhstan on Sunday. Liechtenstein, meanwhile, have lost all four of their own qualifiers, and are yet to score a goal - defeat against North Macedonia in three days therefore seems inevitable.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Maxim De Cuyper (Belgium)
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