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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

What time and TV channel is the Republic of Ireland v Belgium on tonight?

The world's number one ranked team are in Dublin to face the Republic of Ireland this weekend.

Belgium were beaten quarter-finalists against Italy in last summer's rescheduled Euro 2020 and lost to France in the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018.

But Roberto Martinez' side remain the number one ranked side in the world and will provide a stern test for Stephen Kenny's men, despite only players with less than 50 caps being named in their squad for this game.

Ireland are without a number of players for this match and next week's clash with Lithuania, with Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, Enda Stevens and Callum O'Dowda all out, while Gavin Bazunu withdrew from the squad on Thursday due to illness.

Here's what you need to know for the game:

Where and when is the match?

The match takes place at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, March 26.

A general view of The Aviva Stadium (©INPHO/Tommy Dickson)

What time is kick-off?

The game is scheduled to kick-off at 5pm.

What TV channel is it on?

Sky Sports Premier League are showing the match live, with their coverage starting at 4.30pm.

You can also follow updates with our live blog here.

Quotes corner

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny: "I think that the players we're missing probably have a greater effect than the players they're missing.

"We're missing Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, Enda Stevens who are frontline players for us. Callum O'Dowda is obviously missing.

"All of their players are from top teams in the European leagues. Like, (Romelu) Lukaku isn't fit, so they have a choice (Michy) Batshuayi, (Divlock) Origi or (Christian) Benteke as their first number 9, and only one of them will play.

"So they've got that right throughout the team. (Dedryck) Boyata would come in at the back, but he's not a young player, he's 31 and Jason Denayer.

"So those players will come in and they've already played in major tournaments.

Stephen Kenny (©INPHO/James Crombie)

"OK, Kevin de Bruyne is a world-class player and is great to watch, it would be great for the Irish public to see him because he is a real special talent.

"But certainly, they have a formidable team, a world number one team, and a formidable strength in depth and we're aware of that, and we don't, we have emerging players.

"So the players that we're missing have an equal effect of the players they're missing from their team.

"They're missing who they're missing, but they have a formidable team, Belgium, and they're world number one because they've been so consistent in winning matches, relentlessly."

Betting odds

Ireland win: 6/1

Belgium win: 8/15

Draw: 11/4

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