The sad retirement of Eden Hazard, Zidane's dream and Madrid's rage: "He didn't deserve this"

The only year that the Lavoisier public school managed to win the national high school football championship was the year in which Eden Hazard taught there. He was a teenager who played in the lower categories of Lille and was “very hard-working and very humble”, as his teachers told EL MUNDO in 2019.. “He never boasted about how good he was,” summarized teacher Vanesa Bavay.. Two decades after passing through that building in Lille, that 14-year-old boy has announced his retirement from football. He does it at 32 years old and only four seasons after signing for Real Madrid. He made the decision with his ankles shattered and his head at peace after accepting that his body would never be the same after that entry by his compatriot Meunier in a Real Madrid-PSG game.. “You must listen to yourself and say enough at the right moment,” wrote the Belgian in his farewell.. No sooner said than done.

“He didn't deserve this”. In Valdebebas they have great affection for Hazard. The misfortune made him spend more time in the infirmary and on the bench than on the pitch, but the members of the coaching staff who have passed through Madrid in recent years and the workers from the different departments of the club who have coincided with him during this stage speak wonders of the person the Belgian was. “He never stopped trying and always had a positive attitude.”. He tried a thousand treatments, different exercises…. But nothing,” they remember from the Madrid sports city.

Hazard landed in the capital of Spain in June 2019 after the insistence of Zinedine Zidane, who already alerted the Madrid board of his talent when he was in Lille.. Cristiano Ronaldo had been sold in 2018 and the Belgian was the most logical option to replace him. He was 28 years old and had just been chosen as the second best player at the World Cup in Russia, two years in a row in the FIFA XI, MVP of the Europa League, 8th in the Ballon d'Or…. The 50,000 people who gathered at the Bernabéu for his presentation summed up his arrival: he was the chosen one. The '7' on his back, 100 million euros for Chelsea and the future of Madrid's left wing assured.

“He never played without pain again”

But things went wrong from the beginning.. Hazard arrived out of shape for his first preseason and noticed it. He had never been a footballer who worked hard on his physique in the summer, rather he “improved by playing games”, as people around him say, he suffered muscle problems during the tour and when he was beginning to get in shape, Meunier appeared. He accumulated a goal and four assists when on November 26, his compatriot made a tackle that hit his ankle and changed his career.. Problems in the foot, fibula, various operations, nails…. “He never played without pain again,” they explain in Valdebebas.

In four seasons, Hazard played 76 games for Madrid and scored seven goals. He did not play a single Clásico against Barcelona, nor the Champions League final in Paris, nor the Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup or Copa del Rey finals.. In all of them he was absent due to injury or his level was not adequate to leave the bench.. A circumstance that conditioned his future.

“I was able to make my dream come true”

This summer, the footballer notified Madrid's technical management of his intention to retire. He still had a contract with the white team, where he was the highest paid in the squad, but his body was no longer responding and he was considered a hindrance.. Vinicius' explosion mitigated Madrid's internal rage a little, but within the club there has always been an important “rage” about what could have been and was not.

At the end of last season, Hazard made the decision to hang up his boots, Madrid's economy thanked him for making room for Bellingham and an agreement was announced to end their relationship.. Today, two months later, he announced his retirement. He did not consider other options, such as returning to Belgium or playing in exotic leagues such as Arabia or the MLS.. His only alternative was to enjoy life with his family again.. “I was able to make my dream come true, I played and had fun on many fields around the world. Now is the time to enjoy my loved ones and have new experiences. See you soon off the field, my friends,” he wrote.