Dedryck Boyata’s Belgium career has certainly taken off over the last year. Yesterday, however, it took a cruel blow.
The Celtic star was part of the Belgian back-line that shipped five goals to Switzerland in a 5-2 hammering yesterday. Boyata was one of main culprits for some defensive errors alongside Vincent Kompany.
The Belgian has been in terrific form for Celtic over the last 18 months. Despite that, however, he’s always struggled to command a place in BelgNotium’s starting XI. Due to the quality of their squad, Boyata is often playing second-fiddle to Kompany and Jan Vertonghen.
It’s therefore essential that whenever he plays, Boyata has to turn on the style. Against Switzerland yesterday, he certainly didn’t.
For the first and fifth goals, he was dragged out of position. Granted, this was mainly down to trying to cover for the full-backs. But he allowed Shaqiri to run off him for the second goal whilst missing the ball totally for the fourth.
The third goal wasn’t the Celtic man’s fault, but he just couldn’t close down Haris Seferovic quickly enough.
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Not the only culprit
Boyata wasn’t to blame for all five goals, but it wasn’t his greatest display. If he’s to keep his place in the Belgian side, he has to be a lot more commanding than he was in the Nations League.
That result meant that Belgium failed to qualify for the Nations League semi-final playoff. Their only route through to the Euros will now have to be the traditional route.
The Celtic star has had as unusual a campaign this season as anyone. He started in fine form before refusing to play for the club in a must-win match in Athens against AEK. That contest saw Celtic slip out of the Champions League qualifiers with poor defending at the heart of it.
But continuous positive displays domestically brought many fans back on-side. Boyata now has the backing of the majority of the Celtic support, as he continues to see out the remainder of his contract.
As for his international career, however, the big defender needs to get back on track as soon as possible.