After a surprise 1-0 defeat to Slovakia, Domenico Tedesco's men knew another defeat would leave them unable to secure a top-two finish.

They came flying out of the traps and needed just 73 seconds to open the scoring, Tielemans firing home from the edge of the area after good hold-up play from Romelu Lukaku to score Belgium's fastest goal at a major tournament.

It continued to press throughout the first half but was unable to find a second goal, Lukaku going close when he saw his shot on the turn blocked by Nicusor Bancu.

De Bruyne flashed a curling effort narrowly wide of the far corner shortly after the break, then it appeared he had assisted Belgium's second when he released Lukaku to finish into the bottom-left corner, only for the striker to be ruled marginally offside after a VAR check.

Koen Casteels made a crucial stop from Dennis Man to keep Belgium's lead intact, and it made that reprieve count with 11 minutes to play, De Bruyne latching onto Lukaku's flick-on before prodding his finish past Florin Nita when one-on-one.

Belgium failed to add a third despite chances for Lukaku and Leandro Trossard late on, but the win tees up an intriguing finale in Group E with all four teams on three points ahead of Thursday's (AEST) final set of games.

Lukaku continued to endure some rotten luck in this match, his disallowed goal in the second half being the third strike he has seen chalked off at UEFA Euro 2024. That is more goals than any player has scored.

Not including those strikes, he has now failed to score from eight shots worth a total of 1.27 expected goals (xG) at this tournament.

He will be desperately hoping it is a different story in the final group match against Ukraine.