England vs Belgium: Gareth Southgate’s players must be on alert with two potential Hazards to overcome

Double trouble | Thorgan Hazard (left) will be looking to impress alongside brother Eden this summer
AFP/Getty Images
Tom Collomosse28 June 2018

Eden Hazard's talents are feared by defenders across the world but England look set to have a closer look at his younger brother tonight.

While he has not yet had the same stellar career as Eden, Thorgan Hazard is making impressive progress — and he will hope to convince Roberto Martinez that he can play a part for Belgium in the knockout stages by hurting England tonight.

Thorgan and Eden are not yet as famous as some of the game’s most celebrated brothers — Jack and Sir Bobby Charlton, Michael and Brian Laudrup or the De Boer twins, Frank and Ronald. Yet both will have their sights on sharing the pitch in a World Cup Final.

Thorgan, 25, is two years younger than Eden and joined Chelsea in the same summer as his elder sibling, six years ago. But while Eden flourished, Thorgan struggled to make an impression and soon joined the army of Chelsea players on loan around Europe.

Unlike many of those, though, Thorgan started to make a name for himself away from Stamford Bridge. After a successful loan spell with Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach, he quickly became one of their most important players. An attacking midfielder like Eden, Thorgan is expected to line up at left wing-back in a 3-4-3 formation. It is uncertain whether Eden will start the game, as Martinez is expected to make significant changes to his starting XI. Belgium have one eye on the last 16 and do not want to risk any of their key players picking up an injury or a suspension.

Vincent Kompany could make his first appearance of the tournament if it is deemed he has recovered sufficiently well from a groin injury.

Martinez said: “We have qualified and that was the priority. Now we need to look at our individual players. We want to perform well but the priority is not to win. That is the reality, we have put ourselves in this situation, we wanted to qualify and we have done that.

“There are players on yellow cards. I don’t think it would be professional of us to put those players at a risk of missing the knockout phase.”

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