For those who don’t get hugely bored during international breaks as proper football takes an enforced rest, their eyes would’ve been on England’s victory over Croatia at the weekend as they took small World Cup revenge – fans of Newcastle United may well have been keeping one eye on the Switzerland v Belgian tie though.
Belgium gave themselves a 2-0 lead in the game inside of the opening 20 minutes on Sunday, but the Swiss hit back hard to take an unexpected 5-2 victory on the day to rack up three more Nations League points to reach the finals stage of the competition.
Former Newcastle defender Kevin Mbabu more than played his part in the fightback and he even helped himself to a yellow card on the day and plenty of fans were quick to take to social media to discuss whether or not letting him go was a mistake.
Now Mbabu's got a cracking assist, while #nufc desperately lack full back cover…
— Dan-g Nabbit (@TheWhitton) November 18, 2018
ALSO!! Can we talk about the fact that @Kevin_Baboo has had to face Eden Hazard Twice since his #NUFC debut against Chelsea and has pocketed him BOTH TIMES!! @NUFC I won’t make any judgements on transfers in January if we bring Kevin Mbabu back ⚫️⚪️
— Fred (@TheFatbellyFred) November 18, 2018
Did #NUFC put a buy back clause in Kevin Mbabu’s contract?
— TheReal (@Stefan_Tod) November 18, 2018
I remember him playing for Newcastle vs Chelsea and I thought he was brilliant. Never saw him again after that.
— Richard Lavender (@richylavender) November 18, 2018
Kevin Mbabu is a stud, bring him back ASAP #NUFC https://t.co/5qrY7nOViS
— Tomass Toukheul (@Asallsince1993) November 18, 2018
For me – it’s the one major error Benitez made. He should have joined Lascelles in the back line in the championship season and kicked on from there.
— Adam Wilson (@__adamwilson) November 18, 2018
That Kevin Mbabu lad for Switzerland looks a decent player. If only #NUFC could find some talent like him.@Kevin_Baboo
— Miguel ⚫️⚪️⚫️ (@magpiemikehutch) November 18, 2018
Having come into the club with some promise back in 2013, the now 23-year-old impressed in his five small chances but never really established himself, and a failed spell with Scottish side Rangers didn’t help things. 2016 saw him head off for Young Boys Berne and he does appear to have found his groove again.