Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez heaped praise on teenager Jeremy Doku after impressing in Thursday's 1-1 international friendly draw with Greece.

Martinez's Belgium were without several key players including star Kevin De Bruyne, Axel Witsel, Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois for the pre-Euro 2020 warm-up fixture in Brussels.

Thorgan Hazard – brother of Real Madrid's Eden – opened the scoring off his shin in the 20th minute from a Yannick Carrasco assist.

Greece equalised in the 66th minute after Kyriakos Papadopoulos' header hit the post, with Georgios Tzavellas reacting first for the visitors.

Despite failing to win, Martinez was content with the result as they fine-tune ahead of the rescheduled European Championship, where top-ranked Belgium are one of the favourites.

Martinez offered rare praise of an individual, singling out 19-year-old Rennes forward Doku following his seventh international appearance.

The former Anderlecht man only scored two goals and provided three assists in Ligue 1 in 2020-21 but is highly rated in his native Belgium, bursting on to the international scene with a goal in his second Red Devils appearance last September.

"I'm very, very satisfied with some of the individual performances," Martinez said after the game. "It seems Jeremy Doku had exactly the same impact he had in March.

"He's looking always to be getting stronger and better. Not only when he has the ball but in general in many actions of the game he's involved in. He worked well tonight."

The Spaniard added: "Yannick Carrasco was very strong in both halves of the field. Romelu Lukaku also showed that he was having a very good time mentally.

"Then there is Dennis Praet, for a player who has not played for so long, it's really nice to see that he managed the 90 minutes well. It's very good to see such a good response from all the players."

Greece failed to qualify for the Euros, but Martinez was not too fazed by his side's inability to beat the 2004 champions.

"We needed a game like this," he said. "You don't learn anything that you win 3 or 4-0.

"I wanted a competitive team like the ones we are going to face at the Euros. That's why we chose Greece. We knew it would not be a friendly match against them.

"I am not disappointed because this game was not scheduled to be won. It was played so that all the players could level up.

"Many players have accumulated the playing time necessary for the Euros."

Belgium, whose Euro 2020 campaign starts against Russia on June 12, will play Croatia in their final warm-up fixture on Sunday.

Belgium started their preparations for Euro 2020 with a disappointing 1-1 friendly draw with Greece at the King Baudouin Stadium on Thursday. 

The Red Devils were without influential midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who sustained fractures to his nose and eye socket in Manchester City's Champions League defeat to Chelsea at the weekend, and they sorely missed his creativity against John van 't Schip's side, who are ranked 50 places beneath them in the world rankings.

Thorgan Hazard had put Roberto Martinez's side ahead midway through the first half after a slick move and he missed a glaring opportunity to add another before the interval. 

He was punished for that miss in the 66th minute when Georgios Tzavellas stroked home to seal a draw for the visitors.

Greece started on the front foot, with Giorgos Masouras and Anastasios Bakasetas forcing Simon Mignolet into saves inside the opening 10 minutes.

Romelu Lukaku was denied from point-blank range by Odisseas Vlachodimos as the hosts belatedly woke from their slumber.

It did not take them long to go ahead once they had hit their stride, Hazard volleying home from six yards after a smart one-two with Yannick Carrasco in the 20th minute.

Hazard should have had a second before the interval, but the Borussia Dortmund man inexplicably struck the outside of the post with the goal at his mercy.

Mignolet tipped Masouras' effort around the post on the hour mark, before Tzavellas secured a draw for Greece with an instinctive finish from 10 yards after Kyriakos Papadopoulos' header had bounced back off the post.

 

What does it mean? Tougher tests to come for Red Devils

Their Euro 2020 group is not packed with giants of European football but if their struggles here are anything to go by then Belgium might not have it all their own way against Finland, Norway and Russia. 

Despite their attacking talent, the Red Devils only managed to carve out seven shots to Greece's nine, which will surely concern Martinez so close to a major tournament.

Hazard impresses for hosts 

Few in red shone, with Hazard the best of a below-par bunch. His goal came from a game-high three shots, while he gained possession on nine occasions – the joint-highest tally on the pitch.

Doku fails to shine

Martinez has suggested De Bruyne is unlikely to be fit enough for Belgium's opening group game and Jeremy Doku did not exactly stake his claim to deputise for him here. The Rennes man was brought off at half-time after playing just one key pass to a team-mate and failing to register a single shot on target.

What's next?

Belgium face Croatia in a friendly before their Euro 2020 campaign kicks off against Russia on June 12. Greece, meanwhile, face the Red Devils' Group B opponents Norway in a friendly on Sunday.

Frank de Boer admitted there is still plenty of room for improvement in his Netherlands team after they needed a late equaliser to draw 2-2 with Scotland.

Memphis Depay's 89th-minute free-kick made sure the Netherlands avoided defeat in the friendly fixture between two nations preparing for Euro 2020.

The influential forward had also scored in the first half, his left-footed volley cancelling out Jack Hendry's opener for a Scotland team left shorthanded following a positive coronavirus case within the squad.

Substitute Kevin Nisbet restored Scotland's lead soon after coming on as the Dutch looked defensively shaky when lining up in a wing-back formation, though De Boer made clear the squad had little time to work on systems ahead of the match in Faro.

"Has the experiment with the 5-3-2 system failed? No, it has not," De Boer said in his post-match interview with broadcasters NOS.

"I'm not worried at all. We only trained on it once, only three times for 10 minutes. In addition, we also played 4-3-3 at the time.

"In addition, Georginio Wijnaldum and Frenkie de Jong only joined later.

"It seems clear that things need to get better. I saw a few good moments, but there were too few."

Karim Benzema expressed pride to have ended his near six-year exile from the France national side in Wednesday's friendly with 10-man Wales, but admitted there is room for improvement after missing a penalty in the 3-0 win.

The 33-year-old failed to convert a first-half spot-kick at the Allianz Riviera and hit the post in the build-up to Ousmane Dembele's late strike after Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann had put France on course for a routine win.

That was Benzema's third penalty miss in a row for his national side, having also failed to convert against Switzerland and Sweden in 2014.

However, on what was Benzema's first appearance for the world champions in five years and 237 days, the Real Madrid striker is pleased with how things went overall.

"There is a lot of pride and joy after that," he told TF1. "I had a good feeling going into the match after a good week of work and training. It's all about gaining momentum.

"It's been a difficult season with lots of matches. I feel good and that bodes well for the future.

"A match can often be like this with missed chances. The main thing is to create them and learn to do better next time."

Benzema may have endured a largely frustrating game in Nice, but he showed promising link-up play with goalscorers Mbappe and Griezmann in a star-studded front three.

"We tried hard," he said. "It's not easy against teams that use five defenders and play with a low block. That is something we will have to work on in training.

"But overall it was a good match. We worked hard and that is the most important thing today."

Mbappe's breakthrough goal for France arrived seven minutes after Benzema's penalty miss, awarded for Neco Williams' handball in front of goal that also resulted in a red card for the Wales defender.

France looked comfortable from that point on, with Griezmann curling home a second goal early in the second period and substitute Dembele tapping in a third.

The front three of Griezmann, Benzema and Mbappe will be arguably the most feared at the upcoming Euro 2020 finals, and head coach Didier Deschamps is happy to give the trio "complete freedom" up top.

"Karim was unhappy not to score but he was always there," Deschamps told TF1. "A goal would have made both him happy, and me too, but there's no harm in keeping them for later.

"There is no fixed position for the three attackers. I give them complete freedom. Their profiles are complementary. 

"Obviously when the ball is lost they know what needs to be done – they cannot disconnect from the others.

France's victory was their 19th in 24 matches and they now take on Bulgaria in their final friendly fixture ahead of facing Germany, Hungary and Portugal in a daunting Euro 2020 group.

"There's lots of good things to take out of this game," Deschamps said after seeing his side keep a third clean sheet in a row for the first time since October 2017.

"Obviously Wales had one less player and that made our jobs easier. We had lots of chances and it's good to conclude our first week together with this win. On another day the win could have been bigger, but it's a good start."

Karim Benzema missed a penalty and hit the post on his return to the France side, but the hosts took advantage of Neco Williams' contentious red card to beat 10-man Wales 3-0 in Wednesday's friendly at the Allianz Riviera.

Real Madrid striker Benzema was making his first international appearance since October 2015 in a star-studded starting line-up that also included Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe, who both found the net.

Mbappe opened the scoring from close range shortly after Benzema had his penalty saved by Danny Ward following Williams' handball – an infringement that also saw the Liverpool youngster sent off after a lengthy VAR check.

Fellow forward Griezmann doubled France's tally early in the second half and substitute Ousmane Dembele added a third as the world champions saw out the job in their penultimate match before beginning their Euro 2020 campaign.

Benzema had a glancing header well saved by Ward and the Wales goalkeeper was then equal to the returning striker's spot-kick with a little under half an hour played in Nice.

However, Wales were down to 10 men at that point as Williams was harshly sent off for deliberately handling the ball in front of goal when blocking Benzema's shot, coming after Ward had produced another stop to keep out Paul Pogba.

France made the most of the extra man seven minutes later as Mbappe got his boot to a loose ball first following Ward's low save to keep out Adrien Rabiot's deflected effort.

Griezmann gave the hosts some breathing space with a curled finish into the top-left corner with 47 minutes played after some nice link-up play with Mbappe.

Dan James was played in by substitute Aaron Ramsey and forced Hugo Lloris into a rare save, with that proving to be Wales' best chance of ending a run that now spans eight away friendly matches without scoring.

There was still time for France to add a third goal late on through Dembele's simple finish after Benzema's shot crashed back off the post and into his path.

Memphis Depay underlined his importance to the Netherlands with both goals as Frank de Boer's side twice fought back to secure a 2-2 draw against shorthanded Scotland.

Kevin Nisbet's first international goal appeared to have Scotland – without seven players following a positive coronavirus case within the squad – on course for a first victory over the Dutch since November 2003, only for Depay to curl in a free-kick and level the game.

The influential Netherlands forward had earlier cancelled out Jack Hendry's long-range opener as two nations preparing for the upcoming Euro 2020 tournament could not be separated after 90 minutes in Faro.

Hendry had broken the deadlock in spectacular fashion in the 11th minute, the centre-back drilling in a low, right-footed shot from just outside the penalty area, punishing the Netherlands as an attempt to play out from a goal kick led to a costly turnover.

However, after Lyndon Dykes was denied by Tim Krul, the Netherlands responded with an eye-catching strike of their own.

Picked out with a long pass after making a forward run into the penalty area, Georginio Wijnaldum headed the ball down into the path of supporting team-mate Depay, who sent a left-footed volley beyond Craig Gordon.

Wijnaldum did not feature for too much longer after his assist – De Boer replaced both his captain and also fellow midfielder Frenkie de Jong in the 31st minute. Substitutions became a common theme in the second half too, including the introduction of Nisbet.

The forward wasted little time in making an impact on proceedings after replacing Dykes, providing the finishing touch when picked out by Andy Robertson's inviting cross from Scotland's left flank.

Gordon denied Patrick van Aanholt to preserve the slender advantage, but there was nothing the goalkeeper could do with Depay's set-piece strike in the 89th minute.

Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels made their first appearances for Germany since November 2018 as Joachim Low's side were held to a 1-1 draw by Denmark in a Euro 2020 warm-up clash on Wednesday. 

The duo were among the experienced players removed from Low's thinking in March 2019 as he plotted a new path forward following Germany's group-stage exit at the 2018 World Cup.

But the pair have been trusted with helping Germany enjoy a successful tournament at the rescheduled Euros, which will be Low's final tournament in charge.

Die Mannschaft were comfortably the better side against Kasper Hjulmand's men, although they were denied a win when Yussuf Poulsen cancelled out Florian Neuhaus' opener 19 minutes from full-time at the Tivoli Stadion Tirol stadium in Austria. 

Germany started on the front foot, with Muller and Neuhaus forcing Kasper Schmeichel into saves inside the opening 15 minutes. 

Leroy Sane spurned a glorious chance to put Low's men ahead shortly before the half-hour mark, the Bayern Munich forward blazing a half-volley well over from 12 yards. 

Serge Gnabry went agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock moments before the interval when his curled effort from outside the penalty area crashed against the crossbar.

Germany's pressure told three minutes after the restart when Neuhaus stroked home his second international goal following a goalmouth scramble.

Denmark pulled level after a rare surge into the Germany half, Poulsen firing past Manuel Neuer after being released by Christian Eriksen.

Muller almost capped his return with the winning goal late on, but his flicked effort from Sane's cross bounced back off Schmeichel's post.

Karim Benzema was included in France's starting line-up for Wednesday's friendly with Wales in Nice, ending the Real Madrid striker's near six-year absence from the side.

The 33-year-old's most recent appearance for Les Blues came in October 2015 when scoring a brace against Armenia, taking his tally to 27 goals in 81 international appearances.

He then became embroiled in a blackmail scandal involving France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena - Benzema has denied the claims and is due to stand trial on the charge of complicity in attempted blackmail in October - and was subsequently overlooked by Didier Deschamps.

That was until last month, however, when Benzema was surprisingly recalled to the squad ahead of the Euro 2020 finals after holding face-to-face talks with Deschamps.

The prolific striker's recall comes on the back of a campaign in which he scored 30 goals for Madrid in all competitions, 23 of those in LaLiga – behind only Barcelona's Lionel Messi (30).

Some 68 months on from his last outing for France, Benzema was back involved on Wednesday in a star-studded front three alongside Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe.

The friendly at Allianz Riviera also marked a special occasion for Hugo Lloris, who was captaining his national side from the start of a game for the 100th time.

That is 46 more than any other player in Les Bleus history, with Deschamps next on the list.

Chelsea's Champions League-winning trio Kurt Zouma, N'Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud were not involved, while Thomas Lemar was also absent through injury.

Wales also named a strong line-up for their penultimate match before the European Championship finals get under way, with Gareth Bale captaining his side.

Serge Gnabry believes he could be the answer to Germany's goalscoring problem at Euro 2020.

The Bayern Munich forward has spent most of his career in wide roles, but coach Joachim Low – who will step down after the tournament – has selected just two strikers in his squad.

That suggests the coach is looking for others to make themselves available for central attacking duties, and the likes of Gnabry and Kai Havertz could be made for the job.

Havertz's Chelsea team-mate Timo Werner and Monaco forward Kevin Volland are the two frontline strikers at Low's disposal.

Germany were thrashed 6-0 by Spain last November in the Nations League, and although they began their World Cup qualifying campaign in March with wins over Iceland and Romania, a subsequent defeat to North Macedonia pointed to shortcomings.

On Wednesday they will tackle Denmark in a friendly in Innsbruck, a penultimate game before Germany launch their Euro 2020 campaign with a June 15 clash against France in Munich.

"I don't know yet whether I'll play on the wing or in the middle," Gnabry said in a pre-game news conference. "I haven't had a concrete conversation with the national coach.

"I'll do my best when I play in the centre and imitate the striker. But we have so much potential on the offensive that it doesn't really matter who is up front."

Gnabry suggested he enjoyed the central role because it inflated his chances of personal glory.

"Because you're closer to the goal, that's the only reason," Gnabry said. "I just love to score goals."

The former Arsenal player warned, however: "I'm not a [Robert] Lewandowski or [Erling] Haaland."

Gnabry scored just 11 goals for Bayern in the season just ended, after a 23-goal campaign in 2019-20, while Werner netted 12 for Chelsea and Volland hit the back of the net 18 times.

Gnabry's goals came at a healthy rate of one every 216.55 minutes, behind Volland (one every 177.11 minutes) but well ahead of Werner (one every 318.83 minutes).

Germany's Champions League finalists are not available for the Denmark game, meaning Low must get by without Havertz, Werner, Antonio Rudiger and Ilkay Gundogan.

Toni Kroos, Jamal Musiala and Leon Goretzka are also expected to be absent, the coach seeing his 26-man squad depleted.

Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels should win their first caps since November 2018, having been frozen out over the last two and a half years as Low attempted to give his team a younger look.

The coach went cap in hand to both recently, beckoning them back into his squad, and the experienced pair accepted the invitation.

Asked about Bayern team-mate Muller, Gnabry said: "He absolutely deserves it. He is incredibly effective and particularly valuable in terms of motivation. It's good to have him here."

Muller was one of only five players from Europe's top five leagues to score at least 15 goals and have at least 15 assists across all competitions in the 2020-21 season.

He scored 15 times and set up 19 goals, with the others in that exclusive club being Tottenham's Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes and Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho.

Hummels also had a stellar season in defence for Dortmund. He is 32 and Muller is 31, and Gnabry sees their experience and leadership qualities as being a major boon for Die Mannschaft.

"It's always good to have leaders on your team," Gnabry said. "If we all pull together, we will be successful."

Switzerland stepped up preparations for Euro 2020 by coming from behind to beat the United States 2-1 in St Gallen.

Vladimir Petkovic's men were 1-0 down in just over four and a half minutes as Sebastian Lletget captialised on Switzerland's failure to clear their lines.

His close-range strike made it five goals in his last six USA games for Lletget, but the visitors' joy was short-lived as Ricardo Rodriguez levelled in the 10th minute.

Rodriguez found the net with a deflected drive from the edge of the area following Silvan Widmer's right-wing cross, but the left-back then followed his goal by spurning a gilt-edged chance to complete the turnaround.

The Torino left-back sent a penalty wide of the right-hand post after Sergino Dest was ruled to have handled in the area in the 41st minute.

Rodriguez's blushes were spared after another defensive error from Barcelona player Dest presented substitute Steven Zuber with a simple 63rd-minute chance that did not go begging.

Switzerland, who have won five straight matches, host Liechtenstein on Thursday in their final warm-up game before beginning their Group A campaign against Wales in Baku on June 12.

Italy started their preparations for Euro 2020 with an emphatic 7-0 friendly win over San Marino at the Sardegna Arena on Friday. 

Despite a slow start, Roberto Mancini's side went in at the interval two goals up courtesy of strikes from Federico Bernardeschi – the Juventus man's sixth international goal – and Gian Marco Ferrari.  

Matteo Politano and Matteo Pessina added braces after the break, while Andrea Belotti was also on target as Italy brushed aside their neighbours with the minimum of fuss.

The result marked the Azzurri's seventh consecutive win without conceding a goal. 

Italy struggled in the early stages against their less illustrious opponents, with only Gianluca Mancini and Bernardeschi registering efforts on target inside the opening half hour. 

They went ahead after 31 minutes, however, when Bernardeschi's low strike from 20 yards proved too powerful for San Marino goalkeeper Elia Benedettini. 

Sassuolo defender Ferrari, who scored on his only other appearance for Italy against San Marino in 2017, doubled their advantage three minutes later, volleying home after Benedettini had failed to clear a corner. 

Half-time substitute Politano wasted little time making his mark on the game, sliding in his third international goal in the 49th minute after a mix-up in the San Marino defence. 

Belotti added a fourth after 67 minutes, the Torino striker latching onto Bernardeschi's pass and firing past Benedettini from eight yards. 

Pessina stroked home a fifth in the 75th minute after Gaetano Castrovilli had struck the post from outside the penalty area, while Politano added his second two minutes later with a fine volley from 12 yards.

Atalanta midfielder Pessina then rounded off the scoring four minutes from full-time with a poked finish from a tight angle.

Hirving Lozano's last-gasp header earned Mexico a 1-0 friendly victory over Costa Rica on Tuesday.

Costa Rica's goal lived a charmed life throughout the meeting in Austria, though it appeared Keylor Navas and company had done enough to keep Mexico at bay.

Indeed, Mexico's luck seemed out when Lozano and Orbelin Pineda both hit the crossbar in the 73rd minute, either side of Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Navas making a superb stop on the line to deny Hector Moreno.

Yet fortune ultimately favoured Gerardo Martino's side – who had 18 attempts but only hit the target three times – with Lozano turning in Luis Romo's flick-on in the 89th minute before a dreadful miss from Allan Cruz at the other end settled the contest.

The United States sealed a fifth consecutive win in all competitions as goals from Giovanni Reyna and Christian Pulisic secured a 2-1 friendly win over Northern Ireland. 

In the first-ever meeting between the two nations, USA went ahead after 30 minutes when Borussia Dortmund midfielder Reyna sent a deflected effort past Conor Hazard. 

That was Reyna's second goal in four appearances for his country, with his strike making him the youngest player to score an away goal for USA (18 years and 135 days) since Pulisic against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in September 2016 (17 years and 350 days).

Pulisic doubled the visitors' advantage in the 59th minute, stroking home from the penalty spot after he had been brought down inside the area by Daniel Ballard. That was the Chelsea man's eighth goal involvement in his last 10 appearances for his country (five goals, three assists). 

Substitute Niall McGinn pulled one back for Northern Ireland in the 88th minute but it proved too little, too late for Ian Baraclough's side, who are winless in their last 12 matches across all competitions.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is in dialogue with police after Ben Cabango and Rabbi Matondo were subjected to racist abuse on social media.

Swansea City defender Cabango and winger Matondo, who was loaned out by Schalke to Stoke this season, revealed they were targeted after playing for Wales in a 1-0 friendly win over Mexico on Saturday.

The FAW on Sunday vowed to do all in its powers to bring those responsible to justice.

"The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is disgusted by the racial abuse received by national team players via social media after last night's game," the governing body stated.

"Racism and all forms of discriminatory behaviour are wholly unacceptable and the FAW condemns it completely.

"The FAW are in dialogue with South Wales Police to ensure this kind of abhorrent behaviour is reported and investigated.

"The FAW joins other national associations and clubs in urging social media platforms and regulatory authorities to take stronger, more effective and urgent action against this despicable behaviour."

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