The Tunisian has bemoaned two first half injury-inspired substitutions and Belgium’s third goal for deflating his side in Saturday’s 5-2 loss
Captain Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku grabbed a brace each before substitute Michy Batshuayi struck Belgium’s fifth goal in Moscow to seal Tunisia’s early World Cup exit.
But Maaloul was compelled to alter his defence when right back Dylan Bronn and center back Syam Ben Youssef were forced off injured in the 24th and 41st minutes respectively.
“Obviously the substitutes we had to do for our backline, for our defenders also confused us,” said Maaloul at Saturday’s post-match press conference. So, when you have to change that many players, you put more pressure on your defenders but I think the Belgium team deserved to win.”
It was an almost a similar scenario as they endured against England when they lost goalkeeper Mouez Hassen in the 15th minute. Bronn, the scorer of Tunisia’s first goal, was replaced by Hamdi Nagguez before Leicester City’s Yohan Benalouane came in for Ben Youssef.