Football
ESPN staff 8y

Belgium's Jordan Lukaku rates Gareth Bale higher than Eden Hazard

Jordan Lukaku rates Welshman Gareth Bale higher than his Belgium teammate Eden Hazard.

Belgium cruised into the last eight after an impressive 4-0 victory over Hungary in the round of 16 and will now face Wales in the quarterfinals on Friday in Lille.

Jordan -- younger brother of Romelu Lukaku -- who has yet to feature for Marc Wilmots team at Euro 2016 singled out Aaron Ramsey and Bale as the dangermen for Chris Coleman's team.

"Bale is for me perhaps slightly higher than Hazard. He's been playing longer at that level," he said.

"At key moments at club level Bale is the man and he stands there, while Hazard is still not consistent.

"The staff will devise a plan to neutralise Bale and Aaron Ramsey because they are the strongest players Wales have. So we will find a way to counter them but it will not be one player, it will be the whole team."

The Belgians are not taking Wales lightly after failing to beat them in their Group B qualifying campaign with a goalless draw in Brussels, followed up by a 1-0 loss in Cardiff, courtesy of a 25th-minute Bale winner.

Lukaku's teammate Dries Mertens who featured in that goalless draw against Wales, and suffered a clash of heads with George Williams that rendered him unconscious is wary of the threat that the Welshmen possess.

"It's a difficult team. They are very good defensively, they play with three defenders behind," he said.

"They give you the feeling you can score a goal but in the end they score a goal and have stopped you. If you don't play really well against them, you have a lot of problems. They also have a lot of quality up front."

The winner of this quarterfinal clash will go on to face either Poland or Portugal in the final four on July. 7.

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