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Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen has hit back at Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard after their 2-0 defeat against Morocco in the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Sunday, November 27.
Romain Saiss (73') and Zakaria Aboukhlal (90+2') scored for the Moroccans to hand misery to the Red Devils. Ahead of the clash, midfielder De Bruyne surprisingly claimed that his country's golden generation is now too old to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Speaking to The Guardian, De Bruyne said (via Metro):
"No chance, we’re too old. ‘I think our chance was 2018. We have a good team, but it is ageing. We lost some key players. We have some good new players coming, but they are not at the level other players were in 2018. I see us more as outsiders."
Real Madrid winger Hazard took shots at their defense and echoed his international teammate's words as he told EFE:
"Our defenders are not the fastest and they know that."
After the defeat against Morocco, Vertonghen shot back at his team's attacking unit for creating too few chances. The current Anderlecht and former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back said in the tunnel:
"I guess we attack badly because we are also too old up front. We didn’t create enough chances. We conceded the same goal twice at the near post.
"It’s very frustrating and things aren’t going the way we want at present, but we have the weapons to move and get something from the third game [vs Croatia]."
Belgium will return to action for their penultimate group game against Croatia on December 1.
Belgium manager Roberto Martinez reacts to Kevin De Bruyne's comments during the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Belgium manager Roberto Martinez was not too happy with Kevin De Bruyne's comments during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Speaking after the game against Morocco, Martinez said:
"This is the first time I’ve heard those comments from Kevin. At a World Cup, the players have to speak to the media every day, 90% of it will be positive but there are always one or two lines that don’t fit into the context.
"A player is allowed to air their view. We’ve been together for six years now and comments won’t help us to win. Maybe it was a double-bluff. It’s what happens behind the scenes that matters."
Manchester City midfielder De Bruyne was largely anonymous as Morocco trounced Belgium 2-0 and leapfrogged them into second place in Group F.
