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Hazard announces retirement from football and ends his career early
Eden Hazard announced his retirement from football on Tuesday morning at the age of 32, after a career full of titles and achievements, as well as some long stumbles and injuries.
Hazard, with huge money from Chelsea, moved to Real Madrid in June 2019, and looked set to be the latest of La Liga's great stars following Cristiano Ronaldo's departure from Real Madrid, Gareth Bale's suffering to regain fitness and Vinicius Junior's inability to show his abilities.
Four years later, Hazard no longer wears a Real Madrid shirt and will not play football again, the Belgian scored just seven goals, made 12 assists during his final season with Real Madrid and played only 76 games for the royal team and failed to improve the production of his best season with Chelsea.
Hazard's career turned from top to bottom, due to some of his mistakes and the other he was not responsible for, where he was extremely unlucky, and he suffered repeated ankle injuries.
June 2019: Expensive Deal
Despite being their star for more than half a decade, Chelsea were unable to keep Hazard when he left for Real Madrid in June 2019, with only one year left on his contract.
Hazard moved to Real Madrid in a mega deal worth 100 million euros and a weekly salary of 600 thousand euros.
July 2019: Overweight appearance
The Belgian made a good impression on his Madrid career, and then Hazard appeared during training overweight, later admitting that he was five kilograms heavier than he should have been, revealing that he tended to gain weight and lose it repeatedly, especially during the preseason.
October 2019: Hazard's critical contributions
His initial performance on the pitch eliminated the idea that his fitness would be an immediate problem and Hazard needed only a few weeks and by October he was ready to participate with Los Blancos.
Hazard played crucial roles in two La Liga confrontations, starring first against Eibar and then against Real Sociedad. Although he did not score or assist in either, he provided spectacular dribbles and assists.
November 2019: One error changes things
Paris Saint-Germain's Thomas Meunier and Hazard's Belgium team-mate hit the Real Madrid star's legs during the two teams' Champions League game together, and Hazard was unable to walk while he was escorted off the field, causing him to be out for a long time.
March 2020: Ankle Surgery
Hazard was in and out of the lineup for the remainder of the season as he returned in time for another chance, but his ankle injury soon worsened again, and he needed surgery to fix things in March.
As the coronavirus pandemic emerged and leagues were halted, Hazard did not miss many games, but looked a very different player on his return.
September 2020: New infections
The following season should have been better for Hazard in theory, he fully recovered from the process he underwent in March, and appeared ready to shine in a Real Madrid shirt.
But another nightmare of injury occurred, when Hazard developed a muscle problem that sidelined him for a month, and continued to disturb him throughout the 2020-21 season.
January 2021: Super Cup failure intensifies pressure
After a coronavirus-halted comeback, Hazard looked set to make his mark in Madrid again. The main event was the Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Athletic, a game that Hazard started and instead of shining the player struggled and was replaced in the second half by Vinicius, who did well.
February 2021: Continue for long years!
A month later Hazard insisted he planned to play "for at least another five or six years" and vowed to fight for his place in the Madrid team, but his situation was made difficult by the pressure on coach Zinedine Zidane, who looked set to leave the club at the end of the season.
March 2021: Ignore advice
Hazard was constantly upset by the pain in his ankle and the injury that did not fully heal after inserting the Belgian's metal chip into his foot to help heal the fracture, and it began to harass him.
Belgian team doctor Hazard advised another surgery, which the player himself also confirmed but Real Madrid asked him to play with the slide, according to the Marca newspaper.
May 2021: That post-match laugh
Hazard admitted, ahead of Real Madrid's Champions League semi-final with Chelsea, that it would be difficult to play against his old team-mates as Hazard achieved tremendous success at Stamford Bridge and his statement angered this royal crowd.
He was filmed laughing with a few Chelsea players after the game, angering fans and the media and launching the popular talk show "El Chiringuito" an attack on Hazard and asserting the Belgian's apparent disrespect for his club.
May 2021: Head to Euro
Despite his simple role with Real Madrid but Hazard remained a regular for his country and there were doubts about his fitness until the start of Euro 2020 but he joined Roberto Martinez's squad, appearing alongside Kevin De Bruyne and this was Belgium's last "golden generation" chance of glory.
June 2021: Another injury kills Belgium's dream
Belijka's side were knocked out by Italy in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 and Hazard suffered a new injury during the tournament.
At that point he had not played regularly for 18 months, yet Belgium had relied on him a lot in that tournament.
July 2021: On Sale
According to press reports, Real Madrid was willing to sell Hazard in 2021, hoping to make room and raise funds to include Kylian Mbappe, the Paris Saint-Germain star.
Chelsea were supposed to be interested in his return, but no step was achieved.
August 2021: Bright start under Ancelotti
Zidane left Madrid before the 2021-22 season, and Carlo Ancelotti replaced him and in his early days, the legendary Italian coach decided to give Hazard a chance and the results were positive, with Hazard basically participating and returning Vinicius to the benches in the first few weeks of the season.
October 2021: No place for you
He quickly explained that Hazard was a consumer and Karim Benzema and Vinicius formed a formidable partnership in the forward line for Madrid, and the royal team was easily sweeping local and continental rivals.
The expensive Hazard did not participate in the team's successes and, accordingly, Ancelotti told him that he needed to move to another club.
March 2022: More Surgeries
Hazard was not fit enough to appear with Real Madrid or encourage any other team to include him.
It was further complicated by Hazard's surgery, which he had postponed since March 2021, and the chip was removed from the Belgian ankle, an operation that effectively ended his chances of playing in La Liga for the rest of the season.
May 2022: Champions League winner
Hazard's recent success in the Madrid shirt may have been in a game in which he did not take part, with the Belgian benched in the 2022 Champions League final, earning a winner's medal.
November 2022: Finally are you on your way out?
After spending three years denying rumours of his departure from Real Madrid, Hazard finally admitted that it was time to leave the club and provided little information about where he could go, and with the MLS interested in him it seemed that his departure would be close.
April 2023: Do not leave in January!
Hazard did not leave Real Madrid in the winter transfer window, despite repeated suggestions that he would leave and return to the Premier League.
New rumours began that Hazard was ready to play again and this proved to be the case, as he participated as a substitute and created an assist in Real Madrid's win over Valladolid in early April.
May 2023: Return to the line-up
It took Hazard a month to break into the starting XI and he managed to do so, and he was selected in Madrid's formation against Getafe as Ancelotti decided to rest a number of senior players ahead of the Champions League semi-final with Manchester City.
Hazard produced an average performance, in Real Madrid's 1-0 victory.
June 2023: Confirmation of departure
There will be no further start, the Getafe game was the last full appearance of the Belgian's career with Real Madrid, and in early June Hazard announced he was leaving the team this summer, agreeing to terminate the contract by mutual consent.
Hazard lost a large portion of his salary, ending a miserable four-year stay in the Bernabeu.
October 2023: Hazard's retirement
In the weeks after Hazard left Madrid, there was speculation that the Belgian might seek to move elsewhere. According to press reports, there was considerable interest from the American League, Saudi Arabia and all over the world in annexing Hazard.
But on the morning of October 10, Hazard confirmed that he would retire from playing three months before his 33rd birthday, saying, "You should listen to yourself and say stop in time."
Given his age, this was not supposed to be the time to retire Hazard, but his body had another opinion, meaning we reached the early end of a potential legendary player's career.