Belgium‘s Eden Hazard offered an opinion on Germany‘s pre-match hands-over-mouths team photo from Wednesday. The gesture, meant to push back at FIFA’s ban of One Love armbands during the World Cup was made before Germany’s opening match vs. Japan.
Eden Hazard on Germany's symbolic pre-match gesture against Japan 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/lrz8fdDicV
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 24, 2022
No doubt it’s a salacious answer to a question on what he thought about Germany’s gesture. However, it’s important to offer a little context. Before that snippet, Hazard said “I’m not comfortable talking about it because I’m here to play football… I am not here to send a political message, people are better placed for that.”
The internet was quick to comment on Hazard’s take, with the bulk of Twitter users disagreeing with him.
the things hazard said about germany are so stupid, the gesture before the match had nothing to do with their result and standing up for the gay community isn’t “politics” it’s protesting for a human right.
— bella (@bellacfc) November 24, 2022
Eden Hazard coming out as an internet troll by suggesting Germany lost because they had the audacity to care about gay rights, you hate to see it. Apparently he shares the same brain cell that his fanboys pass around.
— Mari Murphy (@MariCLMurphy) November 24, 2022
"I'm not talking about politics, I'm just here to play football. Germany would have been better off not doing the gesture and winning."
Disappointing from Eden Hazard here. He basically just said "Shut up and dribble". https://t.co/lvIRjhbelL— Euan McTear (@emctear) November 24, 2022
Both teams play again on Sunday, with Germany facing Spain, and Belgium taking on Morocco. We can be sure Hazard won’t be taking a stand or making any gestures.
[ESPN FC]
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