After being released from Madrid in June, the Belgian announced he was hanging up his boots a few months later.
How do we get here? Eden Hazard left Chelsea to join Real Madrid in June 2019 and looked set to become the next figure in La Liga, the latest Galáctico to arrive at the Santiago Bernabéu and establish himself as one of the great talents in Europe.
The Whites had lost Cristiano Ronaldo a year earlier, and with Gareth Bale struggling to stay fit and Vinicius Jr. is still not who he is today, Hazard seemed destined to become Madrid’s player of the future. And at the age of 28, he still had a lot of football in his shoes.
Four years later, Hazard no longer wears the Madrid shirt. He won’t even play football again after announcing his retirement at the age of 32 on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.
The Belgian scored just seven goals and provided just 12 assists during his injury-plagued spell in the Spanish capital. He played just 76 games and never matched the production of his best season at Stamford Bridge. To say it was a disappointment is an understatement.
Some of this was Hazard’s own fault, of course. The winger was irresponsible on many occasions, not looking after himself and drawing the ire of Madrid fans for his questionable commitment to the shirt. But he also had a lot of bad luck, as he fell victim to a recurring ankle injury that cost him dearly. Either way, it was a missed opportunity and an abrupt end to the career of a player who should have been one of the greats of the sport.
GOAL analyzes where everything went wrong for Hazard in Madrid…
Source: Goal