Marouane Fellaini looks back on his career with the Red Devils for the first time: “On my debut, no one cared about the national team”

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Marouane Fellaini has been a professional footballer for exactly a week, but at La Dernière Heure he looked back with great pleasure on his glorious international career with the Red Devils. About his debut with an ailing Belgium, his crucial goals against Algeria and Japan and the disappointments against Wales and France.

We start with his debut with the Red Devils under René Vandereycken in early 2007. A Belgium that had been ailing until then started its resurrection, but it was one of trial and error. National coaches come and go and that has its consequences. At the beginning of March 2008 there was the painful 1-4 defeat in the King Baudouin Stadium against Morocco, a year later the Belgians suffered a beating from European champion Spain (5-0). “At that moment, no one cared about the national team, not even some of the players,” says Fellaini. “Mentally it was not easy for everyone to deal with that. I remember those heavy defeats, but those difficult moments shaped our generation.”

Crucial goals against Algeria and Japan

The generation. The golden generation, as it is usually called. A glory period with highlights at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, where Fellaini played a decisive role. For example, he scored at the 2014 World Cup in the opening match of the Belgians against Algeria. The first goal for the Belgians at a major tournament after twelve years of absence and immediately an important goal. “The World Cup in Brazil was really special. We were young and inexperienced, but against Argentina (in the quarter-finals; nvdr.) it came down to a detail. In the last fifteen minutes we camped in their half, but to no avail.”

Four years later in Russia he scored again the crucial equalizer in the 1/8th final against Japan. “Both goals I wasn’t aware of scoring, but it’s clear they were two goals that put us on the map in 2014 or 2018. Will we still be talking about this in 30 years? Maybe, but it is mainly the team that will still be talked about. We came third in a World Cup. We, Belgium, as a small country with 11 million inhabitants. That’s great, isn’t it? We played against countries like Brazil, who were under enormous pressure.”

Disappointment against Wales and France

During that period of his international career, Fellaini and co had to disappoint the Belgian fans several times. Especially the elimination at the 2016 European Championship against black beast Wales still hurts a lot. “It was heavy. I’m not saying it’s the national coach’s fault (Roberto Martinez; nvdr.) but we were 1-0 up and instead of trying to score the second and third goals, we should have calmed down and put the game away. That really hurt us that night and it was obviously a big disappointment.”

Even in 2018, after a glorious tournament, there was no happy ending with a narrow 1-0 defeat in the semi-finals against a businesslike France, which would later become world champions. “That defeat against Morocco in 2008 is nothing compared to the one against France. It came down to a detail. We’re talking about a corner. Afterwards we replayed the match and said to ourselves: “If only Umtiti’s header had not gone in…”. But ‘if’ is nonsense. France played like a world champion that night. What we have done is beautiful. I would have signed up with both hands to experience such a fantastic scenario. We were one of the great football nations with some great players who were and are still playing at the best clubs in the world. We can only be happy about that,” concludes the 87-time international.

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