The head coach of the Belgium national team, Roberto Martinez has admitted that whenever Eden Hazard is happy, the happiness of the footballer influences the team positively.
The tactician revealed ahead of Belgium’s Euro 2020 round of 16 game against Portugal scheduled to kick off at 20:00 tonight, June 27, that he was worried about Hazard due to how often he used to sustain injuries.
Recall that Eden Hazard left Chelsea where he was the talisman of the Premier League club for Real Madrid on July 1, 2019, for a transfer fee worth €115 million.
Unfortunately for him, his departure from the Premier League to the Spanish La Liga has not worked out well for him. He spent most of his last two seasons at Real Madrid battling with different degrees of injuries.
Due to the series of injuries, he was almost looking like he was fading out from the big stage of football. He however picked up himself towards the end of the 2020-2021 season in which he made a total number of 21 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals and provided one assist.
Despite the dwindling fortunes of Eden Hazard before the European Championship, coach Roberto Martinez did not sideline him. The coach ensured that Hazard didn’t lose his place in the team even though the likes of Romelu Lukaku of Inter Milan and Kelvin De Bruyne of Manchester City have become the main men in the squad.
The Belgian coach started the 30-year-old winger from the bench in Belgium’s first two-game in Euro 2020 which were a 3-0 victory over Russia, and a 2-1 victory over Denmark.
While analyzing the current state of Eden Hazard, coach Roberto Martinez noted that after a long while, the footballer expressed happiness in his game when Belgium played their last group match on June 21 which was against Finland. The football star started in the game which ended 2-0 in favor of Belgium.
“I must admit I was worried about him because he was not enjoying his life”, coach Roberto Martinez told ESPN.
“His body was not reacting the way it had reacted for the last 15 years and that is difficult.
“When you’re an injury-prone player, you’re used to having to deal with a body that could break at any moment, but that’s not Eden.
“He never had injury problems in France and he only missed 20 games in eight seasons in the Premier League, one of the most physically demanding leagues in the world.
“Against Finland, it was the first time I saw Eden happy and enjoying his football in a long time. And when Eden is happy, we are a much better team.”
🗣 "I broke my ankle three times, it will never be the same ankle that I had ten years ago."
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) June 21, 2021
Eden Hazard says he doesn't doubt his abilities and impact when he is fully fit #BEL pic.twitter.com/MbH8IzYTQt
Eden Hazard who has been playing for the Belgium national team since November 19, 2008, has scored 32 goals in 110 appearances for Belgium. He is expected to play a role in Belgium’s game against Poland later tonight.
