France are fearful of Lukaku in semi-final

ROMELU Lukaku has been earmarked as one of the biggest threats to France’s World Cup hopes.

Belgium’s United striker has enjoyed an impressive tournament in Russia, scoring four times, and will lead his country’s attack against the French in the first semi-final today.

France star Raphael Varane - the Real Madrid centre-back who has been linked with a move to United says Lukaku and Eden Hazard are serious concerns for his team. He said: “It’s a World Cup semi-final there are no favourites. We’ll have to outdo ourselves and give our best.

“Belgium are young, but they are maturing. We know it will be a tough match.

“Romelu Lukaku’s physicality can trouble any defence. We can’t leave him any space because he’s a quality player.

“As for Eden Hazard, I’ve already played against him when he was at Lille. He has great qualities and is a good dribbler.

“We can’t give him any space either, so it is going to take a collective effort.”

Varane headed home Antoine Griezmann’s free-kick to open the scoring in France’s 2-0 quarter-final victory over Uruguay and added: “I’m happy to have been decisive (by scoring). It’s a great pleasure.

“We were faced with a physical challenge and we dealt with it.

“Experience counts in these big competitions and it helps to avoid small mistakes. We have a relatively young team, but we’ve shown maturity and have been growing since the tournament started.

“We’re solid defensively and have been able to adapt to our opponents. We can also vary our game, which it is a massive strength.”