Rio Ferdinand hails Romelu Lukaku performance

Former England and Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand has said that Romelu Lukaku was "too big and too strong" for Brazil in Belgium's 2-1 victory in the 2018 World Cup quarter-finals.

Lukaku has scored four times for Belgium at this summer's tournament, and played a key role in his team's second of the match against pre-tournament favourites Brazil on Friday night - setting up Kevin De Bruyne to register.

The 25-year-old will now be looking to inspire Belgium to a semi-final win over France next week, and his performance in the last eight has been hailed by Ferdinand.

"It's like playing in the school playground and you have a 16-year-old playing against the 11-year-olds," Ferdinand told BBC Sport. "It's like that he's too big and too strong for everyone. He almost shouldn't be allowed to play with them!"

Lukaku entered this summer's World Cup off the back of scoring 27 goals in 51 appearances during his first season at Old Trafford.