Chelsea star Eden Hazard has spoken on his reported rift with Manchester United star Romelu Lukaku in Belgium’s camp at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The Red Devils found a convincing win in their opening game at the tournament after beating Panama 3-0. Lukaku scored two of those goals while Napoli forward Dries Mertens grabbed one, all in the second half after a stale first half.
Despite winning by a comfortable margin, Hazard said afterwards that he was not too happy with Lukaku’s contribution for the team while asking for more from the 24-year old striker. Social media suggested there was a feud between the pair but Hazard has played that down.
The Chelsea forward is adamant he was only acting like the captain he his and had nothing personal against Lukaku, maintaining the striker has to be involved in the build up of the goals and not just score them.
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. 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.
Eden Hazard, Sky Sports
