Eden Hazard hands Jan Vertonghen captaincy for record-breaking Belgium appearance

New record | Jan Vertonghen will become Belgium's most-capped player
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Vaishali Bhardwaj10 October 2017

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen will end the international break on a high by becoming Belgium's most capped player ever.

The 30-year-old will win his 97th cap for the Red Devils in their World Cup qualifying game against Cyprus at the King Baudouin Stadium on Tuesday night - surpassing Jan Ceulemans' record of 96 appearances for Belgium which he set in 1991.

Eden Hazard offered to hand Vertonghen the captain's armband for that game, but the Tottenham centre-back admitted he had refused the Chelsea star's gesture because he didn't want the spotlight to be on him rather than the team.

He said: "Yes, it's true. He came to me to tell me to take the captain's armband. I thought that was really nice of him, but I refused. I'm not a guy who wants to push himself into the spotlight or stand out from the crowd.

"I heard it said that I wanted to play with the No. 97 shirt against Cyprus to mark the occasion, but that's not true. I'm a normal guy who wants to play games, whether it be the first, the 95th or the 97th of my international career.

"But to come back to Eden, that shows his great generosity that he had that idea, and I thank him for it."

But Vertonghen has accepted Hazard's gesture for Belgium's final World Cup qualifier against Cyprus tonight - with the Spurs defender captaining the Red Devils in Brussels.

Belgium have already qualified for the World Cup in Russia - becoming the first European side to do so following their 2-1 win against Greece in September - and are assured of winning Group H.

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