Eden Hazard moves to clarify Romelu Lukaku "man short" comments following 2018 World Cup Panama win

Belgium got their tournament off to a belting start with a 3-0 win over Panama. Chelsea star Eden Hazard has moved to play down the comments he made about Romelu Lukaku’s performance against Panama, according to Mirror Football. "I told Romelu at half time that we needed him," the Chelsea ace said. "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." But before his comments were taken out of hand, Hazard played his criticism down. "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."

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