Things started well, too. Romelu Lukaku opened his account via a goal 10 minutes into the Red Devils' inaugural game of UEFA EURO 2020. But it would soon turn sour, with Castagne suffering a double fracture in his eye socket.
Russia had launched a quick counter-attack from a Belgium corner and, as the ball span in the air, Timothy and Daler Kuzyaev both contested for the ball. A clash of heads led to medical staff from both teams rushing on the field.
Kuzyaev was patched up, but Castagne remained down on the Gazprom Arena turf, an ice pack pressed to his face, and was ultimately replaced by Thomas Meunier just 27 minutes in.
Belgium went on to win 3-0 – Lukaku doubling his tally after Meunier himself scored the second goal in Saint Petersburg, though Castagne’s campaign had ended almost before it had begun.
A childhood dream to represent his country, it made the injury all the more galling, as the 27-year-old revealed when sitting down to speak inside the dome within the King Power Centre in Seagrave.
“I have so many memories from the times we were young, and just watching the national team play and having the shirt on, watching the games with the family,” Castagne began. “Obviously, it’s great to be on the other side of that now.
“My family always try to be in the stadium, but if they can’t, they are always watching. They are very proud.”
Perhaps he was always destined to play at a high level, with influences from his father, cousin and peers while growing up in the smallest provincial capital in Belgium. He would soon play for local youth teams SB Waltzing-Bonnert, Lorrain Arlon and Virton.
“In school with my other friends,” the Arlon-born defender remembered, when retracing his earliest footballing memories. “My dad played as well, regionally in Belgium. I also played with my cousin – we started together – so it runs in the family.
“Where I grew up, there wasn’t really a good team. The best one was third division in Belgium, so it was not professional. I started in small clubs, I was not in with a big team like you see with the young lads here.
“The facilities were not great, but I did not spend that long there. I was there for a few years. At first, it was more for fun for me, which is good, I think. You could see everyone playing.”
Standard Liège soon came calling. A move to KRC Genk would follow in 2011. It was the first time that Castagne had moved away from home, but support from his family was crucial to settling in and flourishing from a young age.
He explained: “I had a chance to do what we called football studies, which is training in the morning and then school in the afternoon. I could do that in Liège. It was a bit far from home so I would stay the full week there and then go back and do the game on the weekend at home.
“And that’s how I got a test for Genk. Then, after that, I would do the day in Liege and, in the evening, I would drive one hour 30 minutes to Genk to train, come back and sleep at the school. And then at the weekends I would have a game on Saturday, and, on Sunday, come back with the family for a day.
“It was tough being away the whole week from when I was 12, 13, but I have great memories. My mum had a tough time when I moved away too, but I always had great support. They would drive me, or even my grandparents would. They were always helpful, so I was very fortunate in that way.”
Castagne’s senior career would subsequently start at Genk, one of the Jupiler Pro League’s biggest clubs. Debuting in 2014, he transformed from a talented youngster into a first team star, claiming admiring glances from across Europe for offering quality on the flanks and versatility in wide positions.
His first professional goal at the end of the 2014/15 season, as Genk narrowly missed out on UEFA Europa League qualification, was just the start. That feat was realised the following season, with Castagne scoring twice en route to reaching the competition’s last-eight in 2016/17.
“I started playing with the Under-23s in Genk and then for the winter break, we went away for a week with the first team,” he described. “They took two or three young guys to go with them and I was one.
“It went pretty well so after that I did six months on and off. The next season, after two or three games, the manager got sacked. A new manager (Alex McLeish) came in and there was an injury at right-back, so he put me there. He gave me a chance.
“I was a centre-back and that’s how I went to the first team, but they saw that I could run a lot and I wasn’t that tall, so they put me at right-back. I was not lucky, but it was pretty fast because I wasn’t there long. From there, I didn’t move. I played pretty well when I started and that was it.
“Just before the move (to Atalanta), we (Genk) went to the quarter-finals of the Europa League that year, so that helped a lot. I had four years at the club, playing almost every game. I think that was a good time to make the step up.
“Obviously, when you grow up in Belgium, you dream of playing for the big Belgian teams, but you know that it’s not one of the top leagues, so you want to reach one of those and play there. I thought of it as a good first step, rather than an end point.”
Leaving his homeland after three fruitful seasons, another successful three-year spell, at Atalanta, came next in a burgeoning career set on the European stage.
There were adjustments to be made on and off the pitch – a different style of play, a shift in culture, but Castagne took it all in his stride from the moment he stepped foot on Italian shores in July 2017.
I Nerazzurri qualified for the UEFA Champions League under Gian Piero Gasperini, who transformed the club from relegation candidates to one sat in the upper echelons of Serie A, facilitating successive third-place finishes and a run to the quarter-finals of the esteemed continental competition.
“It was a big change,” Castagne admitted. “It was also difficult, the first year. My now wife couldn’t come because she was studying. This was the first time that I was alone in a different country.
“It was a lot more tactical, with a lot more meetings, videos, tactical training and the style we played at Atalanta was very forward and about aggressive pressure. That’s what I was used to, but not in that manner.
“We made history in a lot of categories with that team. We went to the Champions League. It was great to be there for the ride. It was a bit of a dream come true when you hear the song, but when you’re in there, you just think: ‘We need to win, we need to go through’. You don’t think about it at that time.”
The Bergamo-based outfit were certainly making headlines. As were their players. So much so that Leicester City decided Castagne was the right fit for the Foxes, bringing him to King Power Stadium during an uncertain time amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten days later, on 13 September, 2020, the Belgian debuted in the Premier League. It was certainly one to remember, marked with a goal, although slightly tarnished by the absence of the travelling Blue Army in the away end at the Hawthorns, as City beat West Bromwich Albion 3-0.
“It was good to come in after just two training sessions and do that, it was great,” he continued. “It was a shame that there were no fans, especially for my first season in the Premier League. But obviously we had a great season.”
The crowning moment of that 2020/21 campaign, which also included Europa League football, came at Wembley Stadium as Leicester City claimed the FA Cup for the first time in the Club’s history.
International team-mate Youri Tielemans scored the stunning winning goal, before late drama. It was an individual milestone for Castagne, too, who played the full 90 in the showpiece. There were some fans inside Wembley for the final too.
“It was just unbelievable,” he commented, describing Youri's wonderstrike. “And how it went – we conceded and then they say it’s offside. Because, at that point, I think everyone thought we had just lost it.
“Then the decision goes your way, which is always nice and especially because that cup was also my first trophy, so it means it’s even more [special]. To be able to get a trophy on the biggest stage, and maybe the toughest cup to win, is unbelievable.
“I think in Belgium they knew we were in the final so we were followed, but obviously with that goal you get more attention and also a goal like that – it’s not a tap in, it was great.”
Fellow Belgian connections were important from the beginning of Castagne’s time at the Club and continue to be within the current squad, becoming one of the many Belgian exports to grace the Premier League.
Recounting his arrival on Filbert Way, Castagne said: “I knew Dennis [Praet] as well, less than Youri, but of course it helps you get settled and you get confidence straight away because they help you in training and that’s why I settled pretty quickly.
“We’ve tried to help (Wout Faes) too and he’s been part of our Belgian group since the beginning so it’s been good.”
There is definitely a feeling of unfinished business in the air for Castagne and his international team-mates at both club and country level. While they progressed through to the last-eight in EURO 2020, eventual champions Italy would claim their spot in the semi-finals.
The FIFA World Cup in Qatar went less well, knocked out at the group stage. For all their promise, the former no.1 ranked team in the world failed to deliver on the biggest stage. But that has only increased Castagne’s determination to help change that.
The defender has a habit of bouncing back emphatically, not least when announcing his return from a three-month injury with a sensational long-range strike during a 2-1 home victory over Brentford on 20 March, 2022.
He recalled: “Last season was a frustrating one because I came off a bad injury in EURO 2020 and then, when I start getting my form back, I got another injury and had to stop for two or three months.
“My comeback was not bad, I think even in training I don’t score those, so it was great to be able to score that on my comeback in front of the fans. It’s not been easy, but it’s what life is all about, getting some knocks and defeats and trying to learn from it and get better. There’s no denying that.
“I’ve been able to play consistently. Obviously, EURO 2020 was a big disappointment for me and then we had a bad World Cup, so I think I can say I have played, but you always want more.
“You want to do some good things in big tournaments and not just be no.1 in the world because you win against smaller countries. The next step is trying to get a win in a tournament or a good finish in a tournament.
“It’s always good to have a fresh start and get some young talents in the mix and let them develop, but we’ll see. I think we have good players. Obviously, when you see the England squad or France squad, they have so many players that they can use and so much talent.
“We are a smaller country, so obviously we are not going to get so many talents, but we still have some pretty good ones and hopefully we can make something out of that.
“That’s the dream of every boy, to do something great with your country, so, that would be great. But you know that any European Championship or World Cup is tough. You need a lot of things to fall into place, so you need the team, the team spirit, the coach. You need everything. Hopefully we’ll get that some day.”