Belgium captain Eden Hazard has denied claims of a fall-out with striker Romelu Lukaku.
The Red Devils began their World Cup campaign with a 3-0 win over Panama but they had to wait until the second half to break the deadlock before eventually claiming a routine win.
Lukaku grabbed a brace for Belgium, and after the match Hazard revealed he spoke to the striker at half-time as he said in the first 45 minutes it felt as if his side were playing with “a man short” as the Manchester United forward was “hiding away on his own up front”.
Those comments were interpreted as a scathing criticism of the striker, a former Chelsea team-mate of Hazard’s, but the Belgium skipper insists there is no issue between himself and Lukaku.
“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,” he 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.”
Belgium are next in action against Tunisia on Saturday and are 1.30 to claim a victory.
Lukaku is 5.00 to score two or more goals in the Price Boosts and Belgium are 7.50 to secure another 3-0 win.
Link Dafabet