On Sunday evening, Belgium defeated Portugal 1-0 to reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 but might be losing two of their best players to injury
Coming into the tournament, Belgium took the risk of bringing an unfit Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne recovering from a face injury.
The decision seemed perfect when De Bruyne showed his class assisting in the third game of the group stage. Hazard also fought back into the starting line-up and captained the side against Portugal.
The match against Ronaldo’s Portugal was a cagey and physical night in Seville. Eden’s brother Thorgan Hazard got the winning goal with a sweet strike in the first half.
Belgium boss, Roberto Martinez said after the game:
“It’s too early to say how they are doing. With Kevin, it’s the ankle, he couldn’t really turn in the second half. With Eden, it’s the muscle, but we have to wait for a diagnosis.”
Staying a little longer🙌🏼🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/ewbwIjgGYW
— Kevin De Bruyne (@DeBruyneKev) June 27, 2021
How did they get injured?
The win was the end of the good news for Belgium as a foul on De Bruyne after half an hour forced him off minutes after halftime. Palhinha, in attempted to take the ball of the Belgian, his knee landed on De Bruyne’s ankle.
Later the substituted Belgian was seen with a large ice pack wrapped around his ankle. The 30-year-old was seen walking around on the pitch after the game, leaving the fans with some hope.
The same cannot be said for Hazard, while chasing down a Portuguese fullback, he pulled up with hamstring pain. He immediately signaled to come off and was replaced by Yannick Carrasco.
De Bruyne will be used to the recovery process having gotten surgery on his face after a block by Antonio Rudiger in the Champion’s League final.
“We’re going to need 48 hours to find out the extent of injuries. Kevin De Bruyne is the ankle, it was a really bad tackle. We don’t have a diagnosis from the medical department,” added Martinez
“Eden Hazard is more muscle. We will go back to Belgium tonight and have the scans tomorrow.”
No player completed more take-ons (4) or fouled more times (4) than Eden Hazard in #POR vs. #BEL.
No wonder he was forced off through injury. pic.twitter.com/Ds24cEDRoK
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 27, 2021
Belgium will face Italy in the Euro 2020 quarterfinal at 20:00 on Friday 2nd June in Munich.
