'Want to reach the final'

Teammates who spend quality time together on and off the pitch and do not let their different backgrounds create any barriers between them, form some of the coolest bromances in football that make the beautiful game more wholesome. 

With sparks flying on and off the pitch, we look at these 5 'bromances' that everyone has come to encourage and appreciate. 

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Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez

The friendship between Messi and Suarez feels more like they are family members than friends, minus all the drama that happens in the family. On the field these two were ferocious, churning out goal after goal and winning trophies together; off the field, you will see both of them with their families dining out together, spending the vacation in exotic places and all-around wholesomeness. No wonder Messi got so emotional when Suarez left Barcelona, but that was just a small obstacle in their everlasting bromance. 

Neymar Jr and Dani Alves 

The two Brazilians became teammates after Neymar moved to Barcelona in 2013. The veteran Alves took the youngster Neymar under his wings and they bonded right from the start, with the pair having shared vacations and trips over the years. In addition to playing for the same club, they also get to play together in the national team, further strengthening their bonds as friends that have blossomed into a longstanding bromance. 

Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus

Lewandowski and Reus were like two of the coolest guys on the block, who had their handshake; elaborate cheeky goal celebrations ending in hugs, together these two put quite the unit at the German club, Borussia Dortmund. Their amazing on-field chemistry also helped their friendship blossom. Lewandowski left the club for Bayern Munich after two years, and just like the coolest friends who meet after a long while in a reunion, these two could not stop laughing looking at each other. 

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Celebrate football World Cup with special screenings, food deals, and discount offers

Thibo Courtois and Eden Hazard

You know everyone has that best friend, who will follow you no matter where you go sooner or later so that you can be besties everywhere? That is Courtois and Hazard in a nutshell. Both have been playing for the Belgian national team for a long time, they played together for the English club Chelsea and when Courtois left Chelsea for Real Madrid, obviously Hazard followed him the next year! As far as bromances ago, hardly anything can beat the feeling of being with your friend where you work. 

Declan Rice and Mason Mount

Most probably the strongest bromance in football right now, these two English players have been best friends since childhood. The pair immediately became friends when they were in Chelsea's academy at the tender age of eight, later Rice went to join West Ham but that did not hinder their friendship at all as they are known to spend their holidays together frequently. Separated at clubs but united on the international stage, it was just fitting when Declan scored for England the very first time, Mount scored too in the same match!

Croatia captain Luka Modric beat competition from the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, and Eden Hazard to win the golden ball as the best player in the World Cup even as his side lost the final of the showpiece event 4-2 against France.

Modric scored two goals in the group stage and converted both of his attempts in penalty shootouts to help Croatia reach the final. Belgium talisman and captain Hazard, who had been in blazing form throughout this campaign, scoring three goals, was awarded the silver ball while French forward Antoine Griezmann was handed the bronze ball.

Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was given the golden glove award for his three clean-sheets, conceeding six goals in seven matches with some excellent saves against Brazil being his showcase performance.

Rain poured down in the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow as Modic embraced Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic after being given the award by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Russia President Vladimir Putin.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said: “He played a terrific tournament which is another commendation for the team which helped to bring about Luka's success. He did the lion share of our play and he was a deserved winner of the Golden Ball.”

Croatia had shown great fight in the first half before a Griezmann penalty handed France the lead again in the second half before they added two more goals.

France's 19-year-old star Kylian Mbappe was named the tournament's Best Young Player after scoring Les Bleus' fourth goal on Sunday, becoming the youngest since Pele in 1958 to find the net in the final.

England captain Harry Kane was confirmed as the Golden Boot winner, his six goals outpacing the four of Griezmann while Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku was named the Bronze boot winner.

While Mbappe, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo and Russia’s Denis Cheryshev also scored four goals in the competition, but Griezmann bagged two assists while Lukaku had one, which decided their higher ranking in the top-scorers’ list.

Real Madrid forward Eden Hazard says he is "caught in a spiral" and only game time with the European champions can lift him out of it.

The 32-year-old has not played a minute for Madrid in La Liga or the Champions League since the World Cup however.

Signed from Chelsea in a blockbuster deal in 2019, he has a year left on his contract.

"The only thing that can lift me out of this spiral is game time and even then I know I won't be scoring five goals in my first game.

"I don't speak with the coach," the player conceded of his relations with Carlo Ancelotti when interviewed on Belgian television.

"I want to stay here and prove I can still play football, which some people doubt."

Hazard said he wanted to stay at Real and would not leave in the next transfer window even if some of his teammates were advising him to move on.

"I'm not asking for a full game, I just want to feel useful," said Hazard, who stepped down from international football with Belgium after the World Cup.

Croatia set up a dream final with France as they came from a goal down to beat England 2-1 in a nail-biting semifinal at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow yesterday.

Mario Mandzukic struck the winner in the 109th minute after the game headed into extra time following a 1-1 stalemate in regulation 90 minutes. England defender Kieran Trippier gave the Three Lions a fifth-minute lead with a spectacular free-kick before Ivan Perisic levelled the margin in the 68th minute with a first-time flick into the left-hand corner of the net.

And the moment Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir blew the final whistle after four minutes of added time, the Croatian players burst into wild celebration for having made it into the final for the first time in their history, leaving England to eat the humble pie 28 years after that gut-wrenching defeat against Germany in Italia '90. 

Despite the defeat, this young England team showed they can play entertaining, fearless and not conventional football. Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli, Jasse Lingard, John Stones and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, whose brilliance under the bar ended the Three Lions' shootout jinx in the round or 16 against Colombia, were really pushing a seasoned Croatian side into tight corners.

And England needed only five minutes to take the lead through a magnificent free-kick from Trippier, who whipped the ball over the wall and into the top right-hand corner that Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic could only watch. England got the free-kick just outside the box when Luka Modric pulled Alli, who looked ominously poised after being nicely fed by Lingard. It was the Tottenham Hotspur winger's first goal on England shirt.

The early goal fuelled more energy into the England attack, with Sterling making those sprints down the right flank. They won a corner in the 14th minute and it was time for another defender to bury it for a team that had proved to be the most successful side from dead-ball situations in this World Cup. But Harry Maguire headed the ball wide off the mark.

The pace of England attack created all sorts of problems for Croatia's defence and a terrible mispass from Domagoj Vida, who was jeered by his the fans whenever he touched the ball, almost allowed Sterling to score another. But the Manchester City forward killed that opportunity by trying to feed it to Harry Kane, who was offside.

Kane, the Tottenham Hotspur forward and the leading scorer in the World Cup with six goals, had his share of chances in the 30th minute. But his shots were amazingly saved by Subasic. After being nicely set up by Lingard, Kane drove a low sided-footed shot that Subasic partially parried and Kane's second attempt off the rebound from a tight angle hit the post before the ball somehow bounced away after hitting the goalkeeper.

Having survived the early onslaught, Modric finally showed up in the final third as he sent through an overlapping Rebic, who sent a rising shot towards the top left post. But that only allowed Pickford to warm his hands for the first time in the evening.

But the post-lemon session offered a completely different picture, with the Croats coming firing in all cylinders. And it turned into anybody's game after Perisic restored parity in the 68th minute.

It was a reward for constant pressure. Vrsaljko curled in the ball towards the far post that Perisic buried with a first-time flick. Four minutes later, Perisic almost got his second goal but his low shot past Pickford came off the far post. Rebic's shot on the rebound came straight at the young England goalkeeper.

England got a golden opportunity to take the decisive lead in the ninth minute of extra time, but Stone's goal bound header was cleared off the line by Vrsalijko. Few minutes later Pickford made an equally brilliant save at the other end off a Mandzukic shot on a Perisic cross from the right.

But the experienced Juventus striker made no mistake to pounce on a loose ball three minutes into the second half of extra-time. After England failed to clear a high ball down the left, Perisic beat Trippier to a header to the left of the box. Mandzukic was first to get the dropping ball and fired an unstoppable left-footer into the bottom right. And that meant dreamland for Croatia.

Eden Hazard believes he has been given more freedom to score goals after being pushed to a central attacking role under Chelsea manager Antonio Conte.

The 25-year-old Belgian winger struck four goals in the Premier League last season but has already racked up three after the opening eight league games this campaign, with Conte opting for a wing-back formation in recent games.

"When you are strong defensively you bring confidence to all the team, and it is more easy to score goals," Hazard, who scored a goal in Saturday's 3-0 hammering of champions Leicester City, told Chelsea's website (www.chelseafc.com).

Hazard also scored back-to-back goals for his country in World Cup qualifying wins over Gibraltar and Bosnia earlier this month.

"I play more inside the pitch and we play also this system in the national team. For the strikers, we have more freedom, and even when we lose the ball if we press together we can get it back, and it is a good system for Chelsea," he added.