Belgium opened their qualifying campaign for Euro 2020 in style on Thursday as Chelsea forward Eden Hazard scored two goal to help his country earn victory over Russia.
2018 World Cup semi-finalists Belgium earned a battling 3-1 win over Russia in Brussels as Hazard struck twice for Roberto Martinez's side in their opening game in Group I. Youri Tielemans rounded off a flowing move with a crisp low strike to fire Belgium ahead on 14 minutes at the King Baudouin Stadium, but Thibaut Courtois gifted Russia an immediate equaliser.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper, put under pressure by Artem Dzyuba, panicked and scuffed the ball straight to Denis Cheryshev who duly swept home into an empty net.
Michy Batshuayi had a shot cleared off the line, and later hit the post, but Hazard restored Belgium's lead just before half-time after drawing a foul from Yuri Zhirkov in the area.
The Chelsea playmaker sealed the three points two minutes from time with an alert finish, while Aleksandr Golovin was sent off for Russia just before the end.
"I enjoyed myself tonight. I take a lot of pleasure from this victory, in which I scored two goals," said Belgium captain Hazard.
"After our last game against Switzerland (a 5-2 defeat), we had to respond in front of our own fans."
Meanwhile, Memphis Depay inspired Netherlands to a 4-0 win over Belarus.
Cyprus thrashed San Marino 5-0 to provisionally seize top spot in the group, while Scotland crashed to a humilating 3-0 loss in Kazakhstan a nation ranked 117th in the FIFA rankings.
Yuriy Pertsukh and Yan Vorogovskiy notched early goals for Kazakhstan before Baktiyor Zainutdinov's terrific header extinguished any chance of Scotland recovering.
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