Hands on hips, Kevin De Bruyne tried to take it all in, as Belgium flunked yet another major international tournament after losing to France on Monday.

It was an all-too familiar feeling for one of the remaining members of his country’s so-called golden generation. Not that De Bruyne appreciates the tag.

“What is the golden generation?” he asked when it was pointed out that a collection of Belgium’s greatest players, including Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku, has never managed to reach the final of a major tournament, let alone win a trophy.

“You say that France and England and Spain and Germany is not a golden generation? OK.”

If De Bruyne was touchy, it was understandable at the end of a tournament inwhich No. 3 Belgium slumped to a shock loss to 45th-ranked Slovakia and was booed by their own fans after drawing 0-0 with Ukraine Those results sent Belgium into the knockout match with back-to-back World Cup finalist France.

It feels like time is running out for De Bruyne, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Friday.

“I tried to do everything I could,” he said. “This is not what we wanted, but although we were not one of the favourites, we let ourselves down in the match against Slovakia.”

Belgium’s best achievement with the “golden generation” was to reach the 2018 World Cup semi-finals — beaten by eventual champion France — and a climb to the top of the Fifa rankings.