Belgium manager Roberto Martinez plays down Eden Hazard injury

In his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s friendly against Japan, Belgium manager Roberto Martinez gave an update on Eden Hazard’s condition. The Chelsea star was absent from Sunday’s training with the national team as he worked on his own on the side, looking to recover from a knock or two that he collected in the previous game, the 3-3 draw against Mexico on Friday.

While there is plenty to be concerned about in that previous sentence, Martinez doesn’t seem to think so.

"Hazard did not train on Sunday but there is nothing serious."

-Roberto Martinez; source: Football.London

So that’s probably good news. Unless it means that Hazard will once again be playing on Tuesday as opposed to resting, in which case it’s not the best news.

"He was hit on Friday, but there is nothing to be worried about, we are going to assess the situation tomorrow, the reasoning is the same for Romelu Lukaku and the other players who played more than 45 minutes on Friday.”

-Roberto Martinez; source: DH via Google Translate

So hopefully everyone does that sensible thing and lets Hazard fully recover instead of insisting that he play a meaningless friendly — even if Hazard himself would no doubt want to play.