Coach Rudi Garcia said “everyone” expects his Belgium team to be eliminated by Spain in Friday’s World Cup quarterfinal, but backed his side to pull off a famous victory.

European champions Spain enter the match in Los Angeles as strong favourites, having not conceded a goal all tournament.

Belgium have had a more testing time of it, only narrowly topping their group after two draws with Egypt and Iran, and requiring a late comeback to dispatch Senegal.

But at a press conference Thursday, Garcia appeared to relish being dubbed the “underdog”.

“Everyone is already talking about us going home. But we think that we can do it,” said the coach.

“We think we can pull it off, and we’re going to do everything we can to get to the semis.”