Axel Laurent Angel Lambert Witsel (born 12 January 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back[4] for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Belgium national team.

Witsel began his career at hometown club Standard Liège, making 183 appearances and scoring 42 goals while winning five domestic trophies.

On 17 September 2006, a 17-year-old Witsel made his debut with Standard Liège during a competitive game against FC Brussels when he replaced Steven Defour in the 89th minute.

[citation needed] On 30 August 2009, Witsel sparked controversy when he broke Marcin Wasilewski's leg by stamping on his ankle during the match between Anderlecht and Standard.

[10] Witsel scored twice in the 3–1 win against FC Twente, in the Champions League play-off second leg, on 24 August 2011, sending Benfica to the group stages with a 5–3 aggregate victory.

[15][16] Witsel made his debut in the Russian Premier League on 14 September, replacing Konstantin Zyryanov in the 70th minute as Zenit fell 2–0 to Terek Grozny.

[18] Witsel scored Zenit's winner against Terek Grozny on 30 March 2013, an eighth-minute strike, as his side cruised to a 3–0 league victory.

[21] On 26 April, Witsel scored the game's only goal in the seventeenth minute as Zenit defeated Arsenal Tula in a league match at the Petrovsky Stadium.

[30] Witsel scored his first Bundesliga goal on his league debut for the club with an overhead kick in a 4–1 victory over RB Leipzig on 26 August.

[37] However, Belgian hopes of qualifying for UEFA Euro 2012 were dashed on 11 October 2011, by defeat to Germany coupled with Turkey's victory over Azerbaijan.

[44] Witsel was part of the Belgian squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the team performed badly, failing to make it out of the group stage.

On 17 March 2023, new Belgian coach Domenico Tedesco dropped Witsel from the squad for European Championship qualifying games, citing the player's lack of playing time.