Belgium can't afford to throw caution to the wind against France

Instead the Red Devils had to settle for a point which infuriated their supporters, who unleashed a volley of boos and whistles at their underwhelming team.

Fans were particularly angered by the safety-first approach adopted by Domenico Tedesco's team in the final minutes of the game, sitting back while wary of a late Ukraine goal which would have knocked them out.

The fury was such that star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne appeared to instruct his teammates not to head over to applaud supporters after the game, later saying little more than "we need them against France".

Tedesco said that he was "a little bit surprised" by the level of fan anger as his team had qualified from the tournament's tightest group, improving on their dismal, and at times comical, showing at the last World Cup in Qatar.

And Belgium would likely have topped the group but for Romelu Lukaku's horrendous luck, with the striker looking sharp but having three goals chalked off by VAR decisions.

Two came in their opening 1-0 defeat to Slovakia and the last, in Belgium's 2-0 victory over group winners Romania, caused fans to loudly curse their poor fortune when Lukaku's big toe was shown to be offside.

Lukaku might not have got off the mark but he did set up Youri Tielemans for one of Belgium's two goals and is in far better form than when he flopped at the last World Cup in Qatar after rushing back from injury.

"I think we had a lot of chances. For me we don't really need to change anything," Johan Bakayoko said.