Euro 2016: Eden Hazard, Belgium's prodigal son, revives his bid for greatness

It’s not always fun to have the world expect great things from you. Beyond a point, where your excellence dissolves into your narrative woven by the world, it just becomes harder and harder to carry the weight of expectations and deliver. But it is a rare thing when you forget the world’s weight upon you and start having fun yourself. Belgium were having fun on Sunday night. After a disappointing start, a promising comeback, and a dodgy run up to the Round of 16, they emerged out of their chrysalis against Hungary and soared like a butterfly in a blooming garden. A complete performance, front to back, and Belgium were triumphant 4-0; hello quarter-finals. It was probably the most well-rounded performance of the tournament by a team, especially since Hungary weren’t bad at all, and it was fueled by the best individual performance of the Euro 2016 so far. [caption id=“attachment_2857802” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Eden Hazard celebrates his goal. AP[/caption] After Belgium edged out Sweden by a solitary goal, I wrote that Eden Hazard, captain under Vincent Kompany’s absence, needed to step up. That the Red Devils were perhaps a little too dependent on the brilliance of Kevin De Bruyne. And Hazard, not seen in such scintillating form since his 2014-15 Chelsea season, turned up with a performance for the ages. The game started for Belgium like all games have, with De Bruyne hogging the limelight and the ball. He was at the forefront of two attacks through the centre withing first eight minutes, two shots from outside the box, one lacking precision, the other lacking power. And soon a De Bruyne freekick, a perfectly weighted, curling ball in the box from the left, was met by a towering Toby Alderweireld to put Belgium in the lead. De Bruyne was excellent as usual, with Gabor Kiraly denying him a goal at multiple moments. He particularly linked well with Lukaku, finding himself through on goal on couple occasions, but with Kiraly in his way. Just after the half-hour mark, De Bruyne produced a dipping direct free-kick, that first found Kiraly’s fingertips and then the crossbar. Hazard was behind most of the chances, taking on defenders and putting in incisive passes to stretch the game. Belgium came close to doubling their lead through Mertens when Hazard put him through. De Bruyne hit six shots, made six crosses and an assist by the end of 45 minutes, Hazard was not shooting as much, but had created three big chances for Belgium. But somehow, they were still just a goal up, when they could’ve easily had three at the end of first half. Much of it was down to Hungary. They did extremely well to not concede further, despite facing a barrage of attacks. Kiraly, their 40-year-old goalkeeper (oldest player at a European Championship), had been their armor, soaking up most of the blows. The second half brought more attacks from Belgium, as Hazard decided to take over. He was involved in virtually every move Belgium made around the Hungarian box. Only bad luck and Kiraly’s hands kept him from scoring. The Belgian number 10 made many mazy runs from the left, turning, twisting, dribbling around defenders who often looked as pieces of cardboard up against him. But if Belgium were close to doubling their lead, Hungary were just as close to equalising. They, imbued with confidence from their resilient display at the back, started shaking up things at the front as well. They almost levelled things up in the 68th minute when Roland Juhasz latched on to Balazs Dzsudzsak’s free-kick from the left and shot across the face of the goal. The ball flew inches wide of the par post, much to Thibaut Courtois’ relief. One could sense that the tide of the match could turn any moment, Hungary were withing sniffing distance. And then Hazard shut the door on them. Belgium won a corner, and De Bruyne’s delivery was headed back from the chaos in the box to Hazard, waiting in the wings on the left. He flicked the ball forward, and caught up to it himself, skipping past a couple of defenders in a sudden burst of pace, and squared a ball in for Michy Batshuayi, subbed in for Lukaku just a minute ago, who tapped it in home for Belgium and put an end to the dwindling fate of the game. Belgium were going through to the quarter-finals, but Hazard was not done yet. Just a minute later, he again dashed down the left flank on the counter, cut in, rounded of a couple defenders, skipped a challenge from the third and struck the ball past outstretched arms of Kiraly into the bottom corner of the far post, capping of one of the best performances by a man on a football field not just in Euros, but in recent memory. The entirety of Stadium Municipal stood up to applause Hazard when he was subbed off a minute later. His job was done. Atletico Madrid’s Yannick Carrasco added the cherry on top when he scored Belgium’s fourth on the night after Radja Nainggolan put him through. Nothing in football rings as wells as 4-0 does, right? Hungary were good, but on the night they were up against the best.  In the end, Hazard’s numbers from the night read: 90 percent pass accuracy, 10 take-ons, four chances created, one goal, one assist. But the display was such an expression of explosive talent, one that had been inexplicably repressed for the past year, that goes way beyond the numbers. Hazard, with what many are calling the best performance in a football game all year, expunged his ghosts of the horrible season he endured at Chelsea this year. It was cosmic comeuppance. It was proof, that despite a bad season, Hazard remains as one of football’s best talents and is truly world class. For Belgium, Christmas has come early. Hazard’s return is a sign that they are in this for the long haul. There could’ve been no better time for him to find peak form. With De Bruyne already in a destructive mode throughout the tournament, Hazard hitting his best is a reason for other teams to be scared. The two are one of world’s best attacking midfielders, and we’ve seen the damage they can do together. Not many will bet against Belgium at the Euros now. Their performance last night was worthy of champions. They face Wales next in the quarters on 2 July, and will most likely face Portugal (who face Poland in quarters) in the semis if they get past the Welsh. Both teams are driven by their solo superstars Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. But Hazard and De Bruyne are more than match for the two.