Real Madrid supporters are still waiting for Eden Hazard to produce at their club in the manner that he has in all the previous stops of his career. The Belgian has not come even remotely close to living up to his stellar reputation nor his astronomical price tag.
Given what happened last night, in Madrid’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea and thus elimination from the Champions League, we could say now that Hazard may never live up to the hype at Madrid. Hazard was caught laughing and smiling with his former Chelsea teammates after they knocked his current team out of the UCL semifinal. There’s probably no coming back from this.
https://twitter.com/SportySuz20/status/1390048570980675591
This is extremely embarrassing for the Belgian, who has certainly been around the block a few times to know better. While his teammates were gutted by being denied the opportunity to play for their 14th UCL title, the ex-Chelsea man, well aware that the cameras were on him, was caught yucking it up with the Blues.
The club is reportedly, understandably and justifiably angry at the attacking midfielder for this.
Take another look below:
While his Real Madrid teammates were absolutely gutted, Eden Hazard was seen laughing and joking with the Chelsea players… ?? https://t.co/ZZxZdiHq9j
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) May 5, 2021
Here’s an excerpt from an ESPN report, which claims that the Bernabeau brass have an anger with the player that can best be described as “monumental.”
A club source told ESPN that it was “intolerable” that Hazard showed “that attitude after an elimination” so painful for Madrid.
The same source reproached the forward for “lacking tact” following such a poor performance against his former club.
Hazard has struggled with a prolonged time on the sidelines due to having sustained 11 different injuries. He’s also failed to produce when he’s been fit during the biggest matches.
He came off in the 88′ last night after not making much of an impact, and he’s only featured 37 times for the Spanish giants since moving over in the summer of 2019. It will be interesting to see how Madrid punishes Eden Hazard for what he did here, and then later where this all goes.
The summer silly season is coming up, and that means we’ll probably be hearing a lot about his potentially leaving.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.