Eden Hazard is a player that knows his worth and what he is capable of doing on the pitch, hence, he has condemned the 2019-2020 season as the worse in his 13 years old football career.
Though he won the prestigious Spanish La Liga title with arguably the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid, the 29-year-old Belgium international knows that his personal performance this season was not close to what he has done in the past.
Eden Hazard left Chelsea football club in June 2019 when he was the most important player at the North London club. He joined the Spanish La Liga giants for a 5-year deal worth over €100 million.
He was seen as a possible replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo who had left the club for Italian Serie A side, Juventus, a season earlier. Unfortunately for Real Madrid and the player himself, his persistent ankle problem didn’t allow him to give his best to his new club.
Favour better than Labour
— 34th laliga 🍻 (@Dadymakoda3) July 16, 2020
Cristiano ronaldo at realmadrid
312 goals
1 laliga
Eden hazard at realmadrid
1 goal
1 laliga #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/IpYX4Jd9TQ
Injury Woes of Hazard
Hazard’s injury woes started in November 2019 when he suffered an ankle fracture. When the club thought Hazard was fit and ready to play, he suffered another ankle fracture which forced him to carry out a surgery on it in March at a hospital in the United States.
If not that the coronavirus pandemic forced football in Spain to a halt in mid-March and the break lasted until June 11, Hazard would have missed the rest of the season, no thanks to the surgery.
Fortunately for him, the three months break was enough for him to heal and return to the pitch when football returned to La Liga. However, he still felt uncomfortable with himself whenever he was called upon to play.
Hence, the former Chelsea star managed to play six games out of the 11 games Real Madrid played after the coronavirus break. Out of the remaining 11 games, he was an unused substitute twice and was left out of the squad three times including the last game of the season against Leganes on Sunday which ended 2-2.
“This year we won the title collectively. For me, at an individual level, I’ve had the worst season of my career for sure,” Eden Hazard told France Info.
Despite not being used as he ought to in the just-concluded Spanish La Liga season, Hazard believes that he would be fit enough to play a part in Real Madrid‘s second-leg match in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 against Manchester City on August 7.
Manchester City won the first leg of the Round 1-2 in Real Madrid’s home ground and they will travel to England to face the in-form Pep Guardiola led squad with the aim of overturning the deficit.
“It was a bit of a strange season, with everything that happened,” Hazard said. “The next thing has to be the Champions League, even if it’s going to be difficult because we have to play at Manchester City and they have a very good team.”
How bad the 2019-2020 Spanish La Liga season was for Eden Hazard
Just like he has said earlier, Real Madrid won the Spanish La Liga collectively but on an individual basis, Eden Hazard has never had it this bad since he came into the limelight as a world-class footballer.
For instance, in his last season at Chelsea (2018-2019), the Belgium winger played 55 matches in all competitions, scoring 21 goals and made 17 assists. His performance helped the club to win their second Europa League title that season.
In the 2017-2018 season, he played 52 times in all competitions for Chelsea, he scored 17 goals and made 10 assists, which was enough to win Chelsea an FA Cup.
Also, in the 2016-2017 season, Eden Hazard played 45 times in all competitions for Chelsea, he scored 24 goals and made 6 assists, which was also enough to win Chelsea a Premier League title.
However, in his first season at Real Madrid (2019-2020), he played 21 times in all competitions, he scored just a goal and made 7 assists. Though he won the La Liga title, Hazard has never had it that bad in his career.
