Chelsea & Belgium star, La Liga flop… Eden Hazard’s best and worst career moments

We examine some of Eden Hazard‘s best and worst football career moments after his retirement from professional football.

During his 16-year football career, he made more than 700 appearances and gave the football world some genuinely amazing moments, including several unforgettable goals and winning the Chelsea Goal of the Season award a record three times.

Hazard quickly demonstrated his talent on the senior level; he was 17 years old when he came off the bench to bring Lille level with Auxerre in the 88th minute of just his sixth Ligue 1 game.

By the time the 2010/11 campaign got underway, Eden Hazard was already a hot cake, having won Ligue 1’s Young Player of the Year award the previous two seasons as the first non-Frenchman to ever claim the award. In 2012, Champions League winners Chelsea signed the Belgian national for £32m from Lille after he helped the club to their first league and Cup double since 1946 with his astonishing 20 goals and 18 assists, earning a second consecutive Player of the Year award. He went on to make 352 appearances for the club, scoring 110 goals.

After making his Chelsea debut, Hazard didn’t waste any time demonstrating to his new fans what they had paid £32 million for. 110 seconds into the game, Hazard set up Branislav Ivanovic’s goal with a trademark spin before winning a penalty that Frank Lampard converted.

Scoring his first Chelsea hatrick

Hazard started to add more goals to his game the following season under new boss Jose Mourinho after scoring nine league goals in his first season at Stamford Bridge. He scored 17 goals overall and 14 in the league during his second season at the club, including his first Premier League hat-trick against Newcastle United in a 3-0 home victory.

PFA player of the year

Even as the most fouled player in the Premier League, Eden Hazard had a very spectacular 2014–15 campaign, winning the PFA Player of the Year award for the first time after scoring 14 goals and recording 10 assists. He also contributed to Chelsea winning the league title for the first time in five years by scoring the game’s only goal against Crystal Palace to clinch the trophy for the Blues.

Deciding the Premier League winners again

For the second season, Hazard decided the Premier League title. With seven minutes left of normal time, Tottenham were leading 2-1 and still in the title race. Cue the Belgian’s intervention to curl a sweet shot into the top corner after a one-two with Diego Costa. Chelsea had an equaliser, and their London rivals Spurs’ chances of becoming league winners were officially over as Leicester City went ahead to become the champions.

Solo goal against Arsenal

Eden Hazard was playing with the utmost confidence as Chelsea easily won the league for the second time in three seasons, as evidenced by his incredible solo goal. The winger picked up a loose ball on the midway line and manoeuvred past Laurent Koscielny early in the second half.

Francis Coquelin, a defensive midfielder, attempted to knock Hazard off the ball, but the Belgian’s quickness and poise proved too much for the Frenchman, who was ultimately sent spinning to the ground. Once more closing down on Koscielny, Hazard used his quick feet to evade the defender and lift the ball over Petr Cech, his former teammate. The goal is still considered one of the finest solo goals to have been scored in the Premier League.

During his seven years at Stamford Bridge, Hazard went on to win the FA Cup, League Cup, two Premier League championships, two Europa Leagues, and several more trophies.

Captaining Belgium to third place at the World Cup – 2018

Being one of the most well-known members of Belgium’s Golden Generation, Eden Hazard earned 126 international caps, ranking him fourth all-time in the nation’s history. The culmination of this Golden Generation was a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup, where Hazard captained his nation. He won three Man of the Match awards at the 2018 World Cup and set a record for the most successful dribbles (10/10) in a World Cup game since 1966 during Belgium’s 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Brazil.

Europa League goodbye

In the 2019 Europa League final between Chelsea and Arsenal, Hazard wistfully said, “My dream was to play in the Premier League and I have done that for one of the biggest clubs.” Hazard scored twice and set up another goal in Chelsea’s 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal.

Then, in June 2019, Eden Hazard made an enormous financial move from Chelsea to Real Madrid and seemed set to become the league’s new face. Fast forward to four years later, and Hazard is no longer a Real Madrid player.

He might not even play football again after announcing his retirement at the age of 32 on Tuesday.

During his injury-plagued tenure in the Spanish city, the Belgian managed just seven goals and a pitiful 12 assists. He only made 76 appearances, and he was never able to surpass his best campaign at Stamford Bridge. It would be an understatement to say that he let Real Madrid and football fans down.

Chimezie Amos