Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin is the toast of Belgium after an impressive performance in a turnaround UEFA Nations League victory over Ukraine.
Belgian fans have lauded Raskin for his dogged display in Genk, the Rangers midfielder the orchestrator of a fine 3-0 victory on what was his full debut.
But it’s not just the Belgian support who are praising Nicolas Raskin for his exploits on the international stage.
The Belgian press can be notoriously hard to please but the nation’s journalists have come together in praise for the 24-year-old after an impressive first Red Devils start.
Belgian press fawn over Nicolas Raskin
Voetbal Nieuws praised Raskin’s ‘doggedness’ in midfield and hailed French coach Rudi Garcia for making the ‘discovery’ of the midfielder.
This was Garcia’s first squad since replacing Italian-German coach Domenico Tedesco as Belgium manager:
“Belgium has another midfielder, what a wealth in that line! Zeno Debast is not a defensive midfielder, so they in Portugal continue to mold him as a central defender. Nicolas Raskin is.
“He has that doggedness that the Belgian fans like to see. He was very strong as a breaker, positionally he was good and his passing was also solid to good. A discovery of the national coach at international level.”
’Discovery’ is a word that’s been used a couple of times by the Belgians too, Sporza also hailing Nico for his ‘pit bull’ like qualities:
”Nicolas Raskin was the discovery. After 5 minutes he was already unjustly shown a yellow card in his position. That’s very annoying, but what an energetic pit bull he is with good feet.”
Nieuwsblad have fired a shot at former manager Domenico Tedesco, who never called Nicolas Raskin up to the Belgium squad
Their story is titled: “Hello Domenico? How Nicolas Raskin proved Tedesco wrong on his first-team debut.”
Le Soir were also full of praise, saying: “The player no one has forgotten on the banks of the Meuse River excelled against Ukraine.”
This in reference to former club Standard Liege praising Nicolas Raskin at full-time.
Nicolas Raskin tipped to keep £90m duo out of Belgium team
The Nicolas Raskin plaudits come despite the Ibrox star only being drafted into the Belgium squad due to absences elsewhere.
Before this round of internationals, Rudi Garcia explained that Raskin would replace Amadou Onana in this month’s squad.
The £50m Aston Villa midfielder (BBC Sport) is still recovering from a hamstring injury.
Similarly, Youri Tielemans was suspended for the second leg having picked up a yellow card v Ukraine so Raskin stepped into the midfielder’s place.
Whilst Aston Villa would pick Tielemans up at the end of his Leicester City contract, the Foxes once paid AS Monaco £40m for the midfielder’s services (BBC Sport).
Remarkably, RTBF have called for Raskin to retain his place in the Belgium XI despite some £90m worth of talent set to return in the summer:
“Nicolas Raskin was fantastic for his debut. If there’s one player who scored points today in the eyes of Rudi Garcia and his staff, it was him.
“He showed a lot of maturity, staying in the center, in his role of protecting the defense, while the De Bruyne-Vanaken duo played higher up. We saw a real relay number 6, and that’s very important to give freedom to the other two midfielders.
“Nicolas Raskin has the ability to play forward and build the game. I can’t see how Rudi Garcia could do without him in the next match.”
The same report also hosts an opinion shared by Christine Schréder:
“I had no doubts about his ability to take on this role, regardless of the opponent. From the first minutes, we saw him give his instructions and manage his match, despite an illogical yellow card received very early on.
“His ability to defend while advancing also allowed the Devils to stifle this Ukrainian team. And it must be added that he became aware of many things in Glasgow, particularly regarding diet.”
