Before Belgium's match against Ivory Coast the talk was
of Eden Hazard being tired and needing a break. His recent Chelsea exploits had
left him worn out and with more important challenges ahead for club and country
it seemed sensible to let him sit the Ivory Coast game out.
Hazard was quoted by Belgium's De Morgan as saying
"The coach knows that I have to play a lot and knows that I better slow
down a bit. The sequence of matches, and travel, weighs heavily. I can use some
rest."
Of course that and any appeals from Jose Mourinho weren't
going to sit well with Belgium coach Marc Wilmots and compromise was reached
which was supposed to see Hazard play for 20-25 minutes. Instead he came on
with half an hour to go and was promptly injured after a heavy knock to his
ankle. Belgium, despite having a substitution left, didn't take the Chelsea
player off and by the end of the game he had a swollen ankle.
Wilmots is quoted by HLN as saying "His sock was
broken and his ankle was really quite thick. Such things happen and also in top
level football."
It's not known if Hazard will now miss the Tottenham game
at the weekend but Mourinho will certainly not be happy that the player
suffered a challenge bad enough to rip his sock and swell his ankle and was
left on the pitch for the rest of the game.
Unsurprisingly Hazard wasn't able to help Belgium much as
they drew 2-2 with Ivory Coast.
Culled from Sportwitness
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