France v Belgium Betting Tips [1 July 2024]

The biggest game of the Euro 2024 Round of 16 pits France against Belgium this Monday in Dusseldorf. These pre-tournament favorites finished second in their respective groups though France are yet to taste defeat at this tournament. After low-scoring draws in their last two matches, the French will seek to overcome a foe that has become all too familiar. This will be the documented 22nd meeting between the two nations, and the first of three lined up this year. Last time when they faced off, in 2021, France won 3-2. That was three years after eliminating Belgium from the 2018 World Cup and going on to win it. France are coming from a 1-1 draw with Poland in their final group game, a match in which Kylian Mbappe scored his first ever Euro goal. That game marked another low scoring outing for the French, who have now managed just two goals in the last four games.

Belgium haven't had a great run against France. In their last meeting, France beat them in the Nations League semis, having also fallen to France in the World Cup semis three year earlier. Basically, in their last four meetings at major competitions, Belgium ended up losers. They haven't had a very solid run at this competition either, and that will send jitters ahead of this game. However, Belgium will consider their final two group matches as an improvement from the first. After a shocking 1-0 loss to Slovakia, Belgium recovered to beat Romania 2-0 before drawing 0-0 with Ukraine. Clearly, their scoring form before this competition has abandoned them, much so like France. However, one defeat only in 18 matches points to a side that can’t be ruled out. They failed to score in just three of the last seven matches, and five of the seven had under three goals.

Belgium will want to look at their overall form as a motivator coming here, but France remains a formidable side. The French have had a good run over Belgium over the years and this, shall be their motivator. One thing that’s common for the two nations though, is the fact that both haven't been scoring a lot in this competition. None of their three group games hit three goals and we foresee the same here. Our prediction for France v Belgium is for the game to have under 2.5 goals.