Thrown into the first-team last minute after a Vincent Kompany injury, Christian Kabasele earned his first Belgium cap on Wednesday night agaisnt the Netherland in a 1-1 draw.
The Watford defender, who arrived in a £6m transfer this summer from KRC Genk in Belgium, has been used sparingly by Walter Mazzarri so far in the Premier League, only playing 60 minutes split over three appearances.
Speaking about representing his country for the first time to RTBF in Belgium, the Watford defender explained how the news came about.
He said: “I was in the middle of laughing, because Christian Benteke stacked it (tripped) in the dressing room. As soon as I go out to get my coat, I get told Vincent can’t start and that I need to get ready. It happened really quickly, a minute later and I would’ve been on the bench.”
Still not sure how Kompany got injured in the first place, the defender explained he got ready as quickly as possible, and went on to take part in the full 90 minutes of the friendly draw.
Just like at Watford, his debut was in interesting circumstances.
He said: “I never have normal debuts, with Watford, I had it against Arsenal. Here, it’s for a derby. They will be nice memories to keep for a long time.”
Having represented Belgium from U18s onwards, the 25-year-old had to make a decision in 2015 to choose between the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Belgium.
As you may have well guessed already, he chose the latter, and was selected by Marc Wilmots in the final 23 to make the trip to France for the Euros, but never made an appearance.
