World Cup

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World Cup Qualifying - Europe | Group Stage

Oct 10, 2017 at 7.45pm UK

Belgium
4-0
Cyprus Cyprus

Hazard (12', 63' pen.), Hazard (52'), Lukaku (78')

FT(HT: 1-0)

Thorgan Hazard 'threatened to keep ball from Michy Batshuayi'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 12 October 2017

Michy Batshuayi was told by Thorgan Hazard that he would not get a touch of the ball during Belgium's meeting with Cyprus as the Hazard brothers looked to take control.

Belgium midfielder Thorgan Hazard has revealed that he and brother Eden Hazard joked with Michy Batshuayi that he would not get a touch of the ball during the World Cup qualifier against Cyprus.

Thorgan started in the same lineup as his brother for the first time at international level in the Red Devils' straightforward 4-0 victory in Brussels on Tuesday night.

The siblings both netted before Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to round off the scoring, but Borussia Monchengladbach ace Thorgan says that he would have preferred it to be an all-Hazard scoresheet.

"Before the game, we had told Michy he wouldn't touch the ball because we were going to play with each other all the time," ESPN quotes him as saying. "In the end, it's a shame Romelu scored at the end, otherwise there would have only been the name Hazard on the scoresheet!

"Eden had told me to put in a good performance, and I think it was. It's just a shame I missed two chances, but it's not too bad to score once from three opportunities."

Belgium qualified for the 2018 World Cup with a near-perfect record, winning nine and drawing one of their games on the road to Russia.