Belgium manager Roberto Martinez said desire and togetherness were the key components required from his players to see them through to the quarter-finals.

His side completed an incredible comeback as they came from two goals down to beat Japan 3-2 and reach the last eight.

Martinez brought on Marouane Fellaini and Nacer Chadli in the 65th minute, and Fellaini scored the equaliser before Chadli netted a 94th-minute winner.

The former Everton boss said that coming back from such a deficit was an incredible feat that showed character amongst his ranks.

He said: "The reality is we went 2-0 down and you have to find solutions, you have to find a reaction, but what you need more than anything is the desire and togetherness of a group of players who are desperate to perform.

"If you look at the stats there are not many games where you can come back from 2-0 down at a World Cup.

"I think this is down to the personality, to the focus, to the desire, to the never-give-up attitude of the players and almost the belief of the players when the came on.

"Doing it within the 90 minutes was an incredible achievement."

Belgium captain Eden Hazard said that the strength of his sides squad played a big factor in their victory and said the match could prove to be an important test as they progress in the tournament.

The Chelsea midfielder said: "We were thinking it was going to be like two years ago against Wales [at UEFA EURO 2016], but we were also thinking if we can score goals the game is on.

"We have players that can change a game, we brought players from the bench who made the difference, so today we are just happy to have won and have gone through to the quarter-finals.

"The reaction we showed today was great and maybe it is this type of match we needed for the future as we could have been eliminated but we are into the quarter-finals.

"When it comes to the match on Friday, it is going to be magnificent because playing against Brazil is always amazing as a football player.

"We are going to rest really well and going to really try to win that match."

Japan exit the tournament at the last 16 stage for the third time and manager Akira Nishino said he was caught off guard by the decisive Belgian counter attack.

He said "We wanted to win it.

"Our team is strong enough and against Belgium we could at least match them, I believed.

"There were different plans in my mind and of course we started off very well but at the end, right at the end, to have conceded a goal like that was not expected.

"When we were 2-0 up and I didn't change my players, I really wanted to score another goal and we did have opportunities.

"We were to some extent, controlling the ball and controlling the game, but at that point, Belgium upped their game when they really had to.

"At that point, when the free-kick and corner-kick were taken, we wanted to decide and finish the match.

"Of course at that point I thought we might go to extra-time but I did not expect that kind of super counter-attack and my players didn't expect that in a few seconds the ball would be carried into our half and it would decide the match."

"Four years ago, in Brazil we did not make it to the Round of 16 and the whole of Japanese football remembered how we lost against Colombia in the third match.

"For the last four years we have been training hard and of course we faced Colombia in the first match. We were all determined to take revenge.

"And about eight years ago, in the Round of 16, we went to extra-time and penalties, where we lost, therefore we were determined to go through to the next stage.

"I wanted our team to have a different mentality to the ones we have had in the past and I think we succeeded in that.

"But maybe there was still something missing, so four years from now we would like to come back."