Hungary 0-4 Belgium: Eden Hazard stars with goal and assist

Is this going to be the year for Belgium's golden generation? Eden Hazard played with the sort of panache he showed in his first season at Chelsea. 4-0 flattered a little but not much.

Thank you for joining me tonight. We will be back with some enticing ties tomorrow: Italy vs Spain and England vs Iceland.

GOAL! Hungary 0-4 Belgium (Carrasco 90)

Hungary gave the ball away and with hardly any men at the back a pass is slipped through to Carrasco who slotted into the far corner. This scoreline is harsh on Hungary but Belgium have looked good. And now Fellaini gets a booking for, guess what, an elbow.

Hungary are battling away but this game is gone. Belgian sub Batshuayi picks up a pointless yellow card by kicking the ball away. Foolish. 90 minutes are almost up.

Eden Hazard has scored his first goal in a major tournament and set up another and it's all over for Hungary now.

Fellaini comes on for Hazard.

GOAL! Hungary 0-3 Belgium (Hazard 78)

Belgium immediately broke again and Hazard cut across the edge of the area and drove the ball right footed low and into the corner. Game over.

GOAL! Hungary 0-2 Belgium (Batshuayi 77)

Hazard broke to the left and drove the ball across the area where he found the substitute unmarked and all he had to do was poke home.

A beautiful ball over the top by Hazard finds Carrasco but he can't quite gather and he is tackled.

Meunier overlaps on the right but slips in a manner reminiscent of Courtois earlier in a similar pot. Lukaku is coming off to be replaced by Michy Batshuayi of Marseille.

Vertonghen breaks into the Hungary box but a crunching tackle halts his progress. Hungary respond and Gergő Lovrencsics again surges down the left but again his cross is overhit. Substitution: Pinter goes off and on comes Legia Warsaw's Nemanja Nikolic.

Gergő Lovrencsics finds space on the left for Hungary but his cross is just overhit and bounces away for a goal kick. 17 minutes to go. Still 1-0 to Belgium.

Hazard jinks and jives away from defenders and into the box but his final pass is poor and Hungary clear. Seconds later the ball reaches Carrasco in the box but his first touch lets him down and it's cleared.

Vermaelen will miss the quarter final if Belgium advance. Mertens is substituted for Carrasco.

The ball falls to Roland Juhász who connects perfectly and drills the ball ... just past the far post. 22 minutes to go (plus injury time).

Vermaelen upends Pinter 30 yards out on the left and gets a yellow card for his troubles. Free kick...

A series of probes by both sides are broken up before they can become too threatening. Still only one goal in it. Pinter shoots and it deflects off a Belgian and Courtois excellently recovers to tip the ball over the bar.

Belgium break and Hazard looks to be through but is a fraction offside. 62 minutes gone and still 1-0 to Belgium.

Kiraly throws a haymaker at a corner which barely connects but the ball bounces back up into his grateful grasp. Elek of Hungary is booked for a clip and De Bruyne has a free kick out wide which is headed clear.

Belgium have a corner after a quick break saw Mertens almost get to the byline. After the corner Belgium wriggle to create an opening in the area which ends with an attempted back heel flick from Lukaku which finds a teammate who blazes over. Lang, who is already on a yellow, fouls outside the area but escapes without another caution.

Nagy of the once mighty Ferencváros is battling hard in the Hungarian midfield. Almost an hour gone.

Ten minutes of this second half gone and Hungary are passing and breaking well and Belgium's first half dominance is a thing of the past.

Another attack, another whipped ball from Dzsudzsák and Szalai rises to head but his effort is deflected wide for a corner. Vermaelen did well to intercept.

Dzsudzsák's corner is headed clear but Hungary attack again and Dzsudzsák again crosses only to find a Belgian defender's head. Ball is cleared. 52 minutes gone.

Lukaku finds De Bruyne running forward at pace on the right and into the area, he shoots but it's past the far post. Hungary counter and win a corner...

Hungary are pushing and finally get the ball to a man free in the Belgian area: Ádám Szalai is the man but his shot blazes wide. A warning for Belgium though.

Lang picks up a yellow card as he manhandles Hazard off the ball. Free kick near the corner flag for the red-faced De Bruyne to take. It is whipped in low and to the near post where a number of players tangle but the ball goes out wide.

24 seconds into the second half Hazard cuts in from the left and drives towards the top corner but Kiraly tips it over. Great save. From the corner another shot is bounced into the area but Kiraly saves and claims. The Hungarian keeper is having a splendid game which is a good job for his country.

One change at half-time: Hungary bring on Ákos Elek for Zoltan Gera.

Any half-time thoughts you want to share with me via Twitter? Or are you all off having a quick comfort break and grabbing a cold one from the fridge? That was a nice half by Belgium but Hungary are still in this.

Gera breaks up a Belgian attack with what Hazard feels is a foul but the referee waves him away. Vertonghen pings a long pass forward but finds only a Hungarian head. Belgium are passing smoothly but the half-time whistle blows seconds after the 45 are up.

Belgium break and Mertens is in an acre of space but Kiraly is equal to the shot. The ball pings around the area and another save and a block are required to save Hungary. Mertens should have scored. The follow-up corner is cleared.

Belgium have been much the better team but it's still only 1-0. Gera crosses and the ball reaches Dzsudzsák who drives a low shot just agonisingly wide. Courtois probably had it covered. Probably.

Gergő Lovrencsics belts one from 25 yards which just flies just over the bar.

Lukaku again slips the ball through, this time to De Bruyne who hits it first time from 12 yards but straight into the grateful arms of Kiraly. 38 minutes gone and still 1-0 to Belgium.

Nainggolan, with what I am going to declare the silliest haircut of the tournament, shoots from distance but it is one of those that the second they boot it you know is going to dribble disappointingly wide. He got lucky in Belgium's last game so clearly feels the force is with him despite his blonde mohican haircut.

WOODWORK! De Bruyne clips over the wall and Kiraly stretches to touch the ball onto the bar. Great save, great free kick, good football all round.

The Hungarian fans are making plenty of noise and the team are hanging on in there. Belgium break and key man Kádár trips Mertens on the edge of the box and picks up a yellow card which would see him missing out in a potential quarter-final. Free kick from 20 yards out...

Lukaku chips a little ball into the area and finds the head of De Bruyne breaking into the box, but the header goes to straight to Kiraly. Nice move though and Lukaku seems to be playing so much better than he was in the early games of the tournament.

Hazard aims a give and go to Lukaku as he breaks across the halfway line at pace, but Lukaku touches the ball twice and by the time the return comes Hazard is offside. 28 minutes gone, still 1-0 to Belgium.

Tamás Kádár breaks down the left for Hungary and sends over a teasing, tantalising cross, but the tall and brilliant Courtois makes the catch look simple. Hungary come again and Balázs Dzsudzsák shoots low but Courtois is down fast again to make the difficult look simple.

Twenty minutes gone and Hungary are passing with vigour and switching from wing to wing. Belgium look less good when they don't have the ball (but, then again, don't most teams).

Alderweireld fancies himself a marksman now: he shoots first time from 40 yards. It goes almost as far over the bar.

Hungary are gradually finding a way into this game, but Belgium break fast again and Gera has to deflect a pass away for a corner...

I don't think Ernie will thank you for that, Jef.

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What an odd moment: a backpass comes to Courtois who gets himself into an odd position, all tangled legs and misses the ball and it goes through for a corner. The corner is cleared easily.

DeBruyne is through on goal after a great defence-splitting pass by Lukaku and looks like he'll score, but the low drive hits Kiraly's legs and away for a corner.

That was a lovely header to claim the early lead for Belgium (although the marking left a little to be desired). Now, will they carry on playing or will they go ultra-cautious as teams so often seem to do. They should keep on playing the way they're playing, if only for our sake. Hungary can't be written off of course: they gave Portugal a hell of a game a couple of days ago.

GOAL! Hungary 0-1 Belgium (Alderweireld 10)

De Bruyne gains a yard of space but is brought down by Lang – in truth he could've carried on, but he wanted the free kick out wide. Cross comes in and it's a GOAL!

Belgium look up for this and Hazard looks nothing like the bloke who was pants for Chelsea last season. Maybe it's a different Hazard.

Belgium attack again and Lukaku finds a yard of space on the edge of the box and shoots low and Kiraly scrambles, covers and claims. Still 0-0.

Hungary have their first real attack but it end with a weak shot straight to Courtois. Belgium counter with Hazard down the left who whips the ball across the area but finds nobody. Seconds later the ball reaches Lukaku in the area who jabs a shot at goal but Kiraly blocks and it's a corner. The corner is easily cleared.

Kiraly made his Hungary debut 18 years ago. It is unconfirmed as to whether he was wearing the same pair of tracksuit bottoms then, but it certainly looks like he did. Belgium doing most of the early probing and the ball reaches Man City's De Bruyne on the edge of the box who has the first shot of the game, but it's well over the top.

Early probing, nothing much to write home about. The team I was playing for this afternoon were 1-0 down by this stage. (3-0 down after 10 minutes we then got a lot better, but you probably don't want to know about that, do you?)

Belgium kick off and are playing from right to left.

Hungary will be playing in red shirts and white shorts, while Belgium will be wearing their sports-casual gear, you know the one, a very pale blue with a black, yellow and red hoop around the middle. Kick off coming up next...

Anthems. Hands on hearts. Players singing badly.

And Jeremy, who lives in Brussels, adds: "Belgium will win, probably 2-1 but you know how accurate my Brexit prediction was!" (The EU Referendum result surprised a lot of people, including, apparently, the winning team, who now look as if they hadn't worked out a plan for what happened next).

My Belgian friend Luke sends a not entirely unexpected message: "I would say 3-1 to Belgium, though going to be a good match. Belgium will only score the goals on the counter attack because that's their strongest trait. Think Lukaku will get a goal and one from Hazard."

TEAM NEWS UPDATE:

Having said that this Hungary team lacks the pedigree of Puskas and Koscis, I could add that they do at least feature some players who are almost as old (dramatic licence) in 37-year-old Zoltan Gera and 40-year-old goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.

So, mostly backing Belgium there, with one notable exception, Naveen. And Oier asks a question which is now moot about whether any games would be settled by a goal differential of more than one. Germany dispatched Slovakia with a simplicity which puts English efforts into perspective.

PREDICTIONS

I canvassed the finest minds in football journalism (aka the IBT UK sports desk) for their predictions. Here they are:

Here's how the tournament bracket looks now:

I will try to refrain from expressing my disappointment about how much harder England made life for themselves by failing to beat either Russia or Slovakia. Fools.

TEAM NEWS

Hungary: Kiraly; Lang, Juhasz, Guzmics, Kádár; Gera; Lovrencsics, Kleinheisler, Nagy, Dzsudzsák; Szalai.

Belgium: Courtois; Meunier, Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Vertonghen; Witsel, Nainggolan; De Bruyne, Mertens, Hazard; Lukaku.

Referee: Milorad Mazic (Serbia)

A tweet:

Bad news for Hungary – Jef's support doesn't seem to particularly help. Who are you supporting?

Hungary on the other hand have surprised with their achievements here. Their Group was thrown wide open by Portugal's inability to win and Iceland's ability to grab a sensational result. It's not the Hungary of Puskas and Koscis, but who knows, they are in the better half of the draw and it's cup football – anyone can win on their day, no easy games at international level, only takes a second to score a goal, and other footballing cliches.

Should this Belgium team packed with Premier League talent go on and win Euro 2016 then favourite parlour game "Name 10 Famous Belgians" would become a whole lot easier. Team news coming up shortly.

I was in Belgium when they played their opening game of the tournament: watching in the town square in Ypres as they lost 0-2 to Italy. Belgium looked far from the Golden Generation they are meant to be and the disappointment was palpable. But since then they have dropped Fellaini and beaten Republic of Ireland and Sweden. For Manchester United fans disenchanted with the frizzy-haired blunt-instrument midfielder that might be proof of something. I'm not quite so convinced, but Hazard, de Bruyne, Lukaku et al have looked much improved. And they do have one of the best goalkeepers in the world in Courtois. Nobody plays well all the way through a tournament, the trick is to play well when it really counts or win when you don't play that well. This could be Belgium's year yet.

I'll be bringing you team news and other updates shortly, but in the meantime I expect you are still watching Germany vs Slovakia, which you can follow with Tony Mogan here.

Who will join France and (probably) Germany – today's winners in the Euro 2016 Round of 16 – in the quarter finals? Hungary or Belgium? Can Hungary continue harking back to that golden age of the 1950s? Or will Belgium's Golden Generation finally produce the goods? Join me for live coverage of the game. And share your thoughts for inclusion in the blog via Twitter to @Busfield.