Brazil vs Belgium: 5 Talking Points as Belgium knock Brazil out of World Cup 2018

#4 Roberto Martinez unshackles Kevin de Bruyne, allowing him to do what he does best

KDB strikes it truly like only he can.

The best playmaker in world football might very well be a certain Belgian who was discarded not so long ago by Chelsea Football Club - deemed not good enough for the big time. That decision has been criticized more often than the Russian transgressions in Eastern Ukraine.

The Manchester City man has the most number of assists in the top five leagues in Europe since his move from Wolfsburg. He was the talk of the town for the entirety of the first half of the Premier League season until a certain Egyptian's fairytale run saw his own eclipsed.

A tame second half, by his standards, in the campaign with City seemed to spill over on his performances for his country in Russia. He wasn't quite able to affect games like he did for Pep Guardiola. The most plausible reasoning behind that being the case was the position the midfielder was being asked to play in by Martinez so far in the competition.

He has been asked to sit deep, alongside Alex Witsel, and has been restrained by the defensive responsibilities that the role entails. But a player of his penetrating quality, surely, needs to be deployed further up the pitch - where he can cause the most damage.

However, after Marouane Fellaini forced his way into the starting lineup, following his heroics against Japan in the previous round, the Belgian manager finally gave KDB the kind of freedom he needs to wreak havoc in the opposition half.

There was little doubt that it would have an effect, as it proved to be, and the maestro was having an immediate impact on proceedings: first with a typical pass bypassing the traffic in the middle of the park to find Fellaini who scuffed his short and then, more fatally, with a thunderous strike to give his side a two-goal cushion in the quarterfinal.