[2] In the previous international tournament, the 1978 FIFA World Cup, West Germany were knocked out in the second group stage, placing third behind the Netherlands and Italy.

After playing each team both home and away, West Germany had won four matches and drawn the other two, to finish top of the group, three points ahead of Turkey, to qualify for the final tournament in Belgium.

[10] Klaus Allofs gave West Germany the lead midway through the first half, scoring after Bernd Schuster's shot rebounded off the Netherlands goal post.

[11] Five minutes later, Willy van de Kerkhof struck a low shot past Toni Schumacher into the West Germany goal to make it 3–2 which remained the score at the final whistle.

[14] West Germany ended the group stage at the top of the table with five points, two ahead of Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands, and qualified for their third consecutive UEFA European Championship final.

Each team met one another both at home and away, after which Belgium had won four and drawn four of their matches to finish top of the group, one point ahead of Austria, to qualify for the final tournament.

[16] Fighting in the crowd then broke out and the game was suspended for five minutes as England's goalkeeper Ray Clemence needed treatment for the effects of tear gas which the local police had deployed to quell the violence.

[18] Seventeen minutes into the game, Eric Gerets played a one-two with Meeuws and his weak shot beat Luis Arconada, the Spain goalkeeper, to give Belgium a 1–0 lead.

François Van der Elst and Erwin Vandenbergh both missed opportunities to score before Spain equalised after Quini headed the ball past Pfaff from a Juanito free kick.

Spain's Juan Manuel Asensi was then forced to leave the pitch with an injury after which Belgium dominated the game, including a René Vandereycken free kick which was saved by Arconada.

Pfaff made a double-save in the second half from Francesco Graziani before Italy's appeals for a penalty when Meeuws appeared to handle the ball were rejected by the referee.

West Germany recalled Dietz, Schuster and Allofs to their team, while Belgium's starting line-up was unchanged from their last group match against Italy,[23] although a number of players had to cancel family holidays they had booked in anticipation that they would not have progressed so far in the tournament.

[25][26] In the fourth minute, Müller took control of the ball after Gerets headed it clear and shot from the edge of the penalty area but his strike was pushed around the post by Pfaff.

[28] Ten minutes into the second half, West Germany were forced to make a substitution when Briegel injured his left ankle in a tackle with Vandereycken and was replaced by Bernhard Cullmann.

[27] Both Geets and Meeuws saw their shots fly wide of the West Germany goal,[28] before Vandereycken's strike in the 60th minute from a Raymond Mommens pass was saved by Schumacher.

[27] In the 75th minute, Schuster lost possession 10 yards (9 m) inside his own half and Manfred Kaltz inadvertently played the ball to Van der Elst who headed it goalbound and was fouled by Stielike.