This is the second meeting between Belgium and Morocco at the Fifa World Cup, with Belgium winning 1-0 in the other in the 1994 edition.
Morocco won their last meeting with Belgium in all competitions, winning 4-1 in a friendly back in March 2008. They had lost their two games against the Belgians before this.
Belgium have never lost a Fifa World Cup match against an African nation before (W3 D1), with all of these meetings coming in the group stage of the competition. Their most recent such match was a 5-2 win over Tunisia in 2018.
This is Belgium’s 50th match at the Fifa World Cup finals, the 12th different nation to reach the milestone. Just two of the previous 11 have lost their 50th game (W8 D1) – England in 2002 (vs Brazil) and Spain in 2010 (vs Switzerland), though the latter went on to win the tournament that year.
Belgium have won each of their last eight group stage games at the World Cup. A win here would see them become the first nation ever to win nine consecutive group games at the tournament (including second and final group rounds).
Morocco have failed to score in 53 per cent of their World Cup matches (9/17) – coming into the second round of games, it's the joint-highest per centage of any nation to have played more than 10 games in the competition.
Belgium have won 11 of their last 13 World Cup games across the last three editions of the tournament (2014, 2018, 2022). Seven of these wins have come under Roberto MartÃnez, the most victories any manager has overseen at the World Cup with the Red Devils, ahead of Guy Thys’ six.
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Morocco have won just two of their 17 World Cup matches (D6 L9), with each of their last two games finishing level. They've lost their second group stage match in four of their five previous appearances at the competition, with the exception being a goalless draw with England in 1986 in the only edition they progressed to the knockout rounds.
Kevin De Bruyne created four chances for Belgium against Canada last time out, more than any of his teammates. In fact, since Opta have this data available (from 1966), De Bruyne has created more chances than any other Belgium player at the World Cup (43).
Against Canada on MD1, Michy Batshuayi scored the game’s only goal, while he attempted five of Belgium’s nine shots. Indeed, those five shots accounted for 100 per cent of Belgium’s total before he was substituted off in the 78th minute.