Hazard: Belgium were afraid of a Wales repeat
The Chelsea star was afraid that the Red Devils were in for a repeat of their loss to Wales, whose superior organization helped them outgun them two years ago at Euro 2016 in the quarter-finals (3-1).
"To be fair we were thinking two years ago against Wales," Hazard told journalists at the post-game press conference. "But we were also thinking that we could score goals to win.”
​Dries Mertens had warned journalists that the team was afraid of a repeat of the Wales game, as well as the narrow win over the United States at the 2014 World Cup Round of 16.
"We have players who can change the game, players on the pitch and from the bench can make the difference,” Hazard continued. Today we're just happy to have won the game and to go on to the quarter-final.
"During the first 20 to 25 minutes of the first half, we were quite good. But what went wrong was at the beginning of the second half - this is where we conceded two goals. And those two goals were avoidable.
"We had some little defensive errors but the reaction we showed tonight was great. Maybe we needed this type of match for the future. We could have been eliminated, but we ended up in the quarter-finals. So we're all very happy."