Belgium captain, Eden Hazard has played down his criticism of fellow teammate, Romelu Lukaku, after the Chelsea star accused the Manchester United striker of going missing against Panama in their first World Cup game on Monday.
Hazard, and his Belgium team-mates, struggled to break the South Americans defence in the first half, but scored three in the second 45 minutes with Lukaku scoring a brace as the game ended 3-0 in favour of the Europeans.
The 27-year-old admitted he was unhappy with Lukaku’s efforts in the first half, adding that it was difficult to play when your team was a man down.
Hazard, however, has played down the idea and insisted there was no clash.
“As the captain, even if I am not the captain I can talk, on the pitch I try to give my best, if I can help players to be better – I will,” Hazard told Sky Sports.
“I just told Romelu [Lukaku] if we want to win the game we need him, not just as a scorer to score goals, but we want him to be involved in the build-up.
“We just talked normally and we won the game in the end so it was fine.”
Hazard added, “I told Romelu at half time that we needed him. He was hiding away on his own up front in the first half.
“Even though we have good players, it is not easy for us to play with a man short.
“Once he got involved in the game, as if by magic, he scored two goals. I hope he will understand. He did not have a bad game.
“He scored twice, so everyone is happy. It is good for his confidence.
“But I want him to try to get more involved in the game, especially during the first half – as we know what he can do.”
Hazard will lead his team out again in their second Group G game against Tunisia at the Spartak Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
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