Eden Hazard’s good performance against France ends in injury

74 minutes into the UEFA Nations League semi-final between Belgium and France, Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard released a pass and immediately sensed something was wrong, as he slowed down to walking pace, walked to the bench while the ball was still in play, and took off his captain’s armband.

“We don’t know what happened to Hazard,” Belgian coach Roberto Martinez said after his side lost heartbreakingly 2-3. “We will have to check in the next few hours what happens to him. “

Beyond that, there is no official diagnosis yet. We’ll know more tomorrow morning when we wake up, and let’s hope for the best.

It was a bitter way to end a disappointing night for Belgium – a team that completely dominated the game in the first half, climbed two goals and had brilliant performances from almost everyone – in particular Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard.

Hazard played his familiar role in Belgium, where he slipped down the left side of the attack in a 3-4-3; while Yannick Carrasco takes the role of winger on the left, allowing Hazard to play more freely on the pitch as a hybrid 10 without a lot of defensive tasks.

Hazard shone, as he nominally does with the national team. He helped Belgium circulate possession into France’s third, as the Belgians had a collective goal of finding the vertical pass for Lukaku as soon as possible. Once they found him (and that was inevitable as France defended deeply and passively in that first half), Lukaku’s heist game opened up a series of offensive possibilities, as Belgium would start racing into the box and let Lukaku work with either a shot of his own or a nice pass into a cup-mate.

Hazard’s bonding game was tidy, his keys in tight spaces quick and decisive. He often wandered to the right side and was rarely still.

The Belgian ended the game with 64 touches – but his influence was reduced in the second half as he and his entire team were grounded when France returned.

We will have more on Hazard’s injury tomorrow. A report on Karim Benzema’s performance will be published separately.