Belgian FA conceal Eden Hazard from media duties
The Belgian FA are carrying out a request from Hazard's new club that the player doesn't face the media until his planned unveiling in Madrid on Thursday.
Real Madrid officially confirmed the acquisition of Belgian Eden Hazard late on Friday night and upon the announcement politely requested that the Belgian FA attempt to ensure that Hazard avoided immediate contact with the media.
As the Belgian squad met-up at their Tubize training ground last week, local journalists were told that the Belgian captain would not make any appearances at the obligatory FIFA press conferences and would not speak to any local journalists.
Given the speculation surrounding the, what at the time was impending move, this was their attempt to isolate and protect Hazard from the added attention being cast on the Belgian side as they prepared for two key Euro 2020 qualifying games. Upon the player's move from Chelsea to Real Madrid being confirmed on June 7, Real Madrid requested that the Belgian FA maintain this media silence from their player ahead of his presentation which is set to take place in the Spanish capital this Thursday (June 13th).
Kazakhstan win
After the "Red Devils" securing a 3-0 home win over Kazakhstan in Brussels, Hazard moved swiftly behind the mixed zone avoiding the waiting media and timing his walk to the team bus when head coach Roberto Martínez spoke to the gathered journalists looking for post match analysis.
Belgium now face Scotland at home on Tuesday in the next instalment of their Euro 2020 campaign with Hazard set to travel to Madrid the following day ahead of the Santiago Bernabéu presentation on Thursday.