Belgium's Eden Hazard says Wales Euro 2016 defeat haunted him against Japan
"We were thinking it was like two years ago against Wales"
Tuesday 3 July 2018 12:08, UK
Eden Hazard has revealed memories of Belgium's shock Euro 2016 defeat to Wales haunted him during their stunning 3-2 win over Japan.
Belgium were facing a World Cup exit when goals from Genki Haraguchi and Takashi Inui put Japan 2-0 up early in the second half of the last-16 clash.
And Hazard said thoughts of their shock 3-1 loss to Wales in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 came flooding back at that point
"To be fair, we were thinking it was like two years ago against Wales," said the Chelsea star.
"But we have players who can change the game and they came off the bench to make the difference."
Belgium got themselves back into the game through goals from Jan Vertonghen and Marouane Fellaini before Nacer Chadli completed the remarkable turnaround with the last kick of the game.
"During the first half we were quite good, but things went wrong at the start of the second half, both goals were avoidable, but the reaction we showed was great," added Belgium captain Hazard.
"We are just so happy to go through.
"It's going to be magnificent playing against Brazil and we need to rest and regenerate."
Belgium became the first team in 48 years to come from two goals down to win a World Cup knockout game, but match-winner Chadli always believed the team could get back in the game.
"We started to win our duels and showed that we had more desire than them," he said.
"It [his goal] was like a dream. The coach made the changes because he wanted more power in the middle and we managed to bring that."
Fellow super-sub Felliani reckoned the comeback showed Belgium's strong team spirit.
He said: "It was an important game for us because we showed the mentality, we came back from 2-0 and scored three goals in 90 minutes.
"We are more mature than before and we all want to show what we can do against Brazil."
The Belgians now face Brazil in the last eight in Kazan on Friday night.
