Belgium captain Eden Hazard has amazingly revealed that he was a bigger fan of tonight’s World Cup semi-final opponents France as a kid than he was of his own Country.
The two European neighbours face off tonight for a place in next Sunday’s World Cup final in Moscow, but Hazard has admitted that he was actually more interested in the France side of 1998, that consisted of star players such Zinedine Zidane and current Belgium assistant coach Thierry Henry, rather than his own country.
“With my brothers, we have always been more supporters of France than Belgium because we grew up with 98,” He said in the pre match press conference.
“At the time, there wasn’t the jersey of Belgium, that’s why we wore the one of France.
“I do not want to denigrate the Belgium team of the time, there were very good players, but at that time, it was France.”
Hazard also has a very intertwined relationship with tonight’s opponents France, which of course borders Belgium. The 27-year-old is from a French speaking area of Belgium before he moved across the border to join Lille as a 14-year-old, the club he represented until 2012 when he moved to Chelsea.
Whichever of these two highly rated sides emerges victorious from tomorrow nights semi-final will face either England or Croatia in the final.