EDEN HAZARD showed he is ready for Russia with a dazzling display against a Mo Salah-less Egypt.
The Belgium captain forced Romelu Lukaku’s opener and then scored himself despite receiving a roughing up from the physical Pharaohs.
And Hazard’s first-half heroics will come as a real World Cup warning to England – even if some of his other superstar team-mates fell flat.
Lukaku, despite his tap-in goal, looked relatively rusty, and for once Kevin De Bruyne’s passing was not on point.
But Roberto Martinez’s men, who grabbed an injury-time third through Marouane Fellaini, have now gone 18 games unbeaten.
And they host one more warm-up match against Costa Rica on Monday before jetting to their Moscow base.
With Salah still recovering from the shoulder injury he picked up in the Champions League final, it looks like Egypt’s World Cup Plan B will be brute force.
Hector Cuper’s side picked up two yellow cards in the first eight minutes for cynical hacks on Hazard and Yannick Carrasco.
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With the game goalless, Marwan Mohsen actually missed a free header for the visitors.
But on the whole they had no answer for the speed and skill of England’s main Group G rivals, who, other than the crocked Vincent Kompany, fielded their best side.
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Dries Mertens forced an early save out of keeper Essam El-Hadary, who at 45 will become the World Cup’s oldest ever player.
Then Lukaku missed a glaring chance from Mertens’ cross but made amends in the 27th minute when El-Hadary could only palm Hazard’s 18-yard strike straight into his path.
Hazard scored a second seven minutes before the break with a left-footed finish after fine work from Carrasco down the left.
He was then hooked at half-time as boss Martinez replaced all of his first-choice front three, giving a run out to the fit-again Michy Batshuayi.
But it meant Belgium lost their rhythm, with only Carrasco forcing El-Hadary into a meaningful second-half save.
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