The former Chelsea player has the skill and the attitude to succeed at the Bernabéu even if the club is still a little infatuated with the former owner of the No 7 shirtEden Hazard’s first start for Real Madrid on Wednesday night was always likely to be a fascinating subplot for anyone who followed his progress in England.Predictably Hazard was miles off the pace in Paris. This was his first start in a proper football match since June, and his first outing in the full white-noise glare of Champions League-issue Real Madrid. Related: For decadent, deficient Real Madrid the problems start in midfield | Jonathan Wilson Related: Real Madrid relieved to hold on for nervy win after Levante fightback Continue...
Zinedine Zidane identified the Belgian in 2010. Finally he has his man and Hazard will start despite the heftiest competition“I would take Eden Hazard with my eyes closed.” Zinedine Zidane’s words are not from this week or last; they’re not from last year, the year before, or even the year before that. Real Madrid’s manager said that in April 2010, almost a decade ago, when the Frenchman was just about to return to the Bernabéu as presidential adviser and Hazard was 19 and playing for Lille. He was also, Zidane said, “the star of the future”. Now, aged 28, he is Madrid’s present, not just their latest galáctico but their first for five years. He has been a long time...
Bewitching winger is set to depart Chelsea as an old-fashioned showman whose majesty cannot be told in numbersOne of the things that always stood out watching Eden Hazard play for Chelsea was the way the game sounded a bit different when he had the ball. The press seats at Stamford Bridge are low down and right behind the managers’ dugout, a kind of clanky metal pillbox crammed with swivelling press-box heads.From there you can hear most things that happen on the pitch quite clearly, from the clicks and clacks of the ball being passed and trapped; to the familiar deep thunk of David Luiz attempting one of his full-body tackles, those moments where he simply runs right through his man...
The manager could go after winning the Europa League and a top-three finish. Eden Hazard is on his way. It sums up ChelseaYou hope Maurizio Sarri enjoyed his first trophy in professional football – but this, surely, was not how he imagined it when he whiled away the hours working on the foreign exchange desk at a bank in Florence. Perhaps he had dreamed of one of the great citadels of European football, of Wembley or San Siro, of the Camp Nou or the Luzhniki, but instead he got the Olympic Stadium in Baku. It is a place so ill-conceived that not only is the stadium inaccessible to most of Europe but the pitch seems inaccessible from most of the...
Belgian scored the penalty that put Blues into the Europa League final but talk has intensified of a £140m move to Real Madrid this summerSo farewell Eden, if this is really the end. It has been almost seven years since the Belgium international famously announced on Twitter: “I’m signing for the champion’s league winner”, rejecting approaches from both Manchester clubs among others after a frenzied chase for his signature in the spring of 2012.The opportunity to see Eden Hazard in what might prove to be his last appearance at Stamford Bridge was always likely to be an emotional occasion for Chelsea’s supporters and so it proved on a night that perhaps encapsulated why he could be leaving. Related: Chelsea beat...