Cristiano Ronaldo & Zlatan Ibrahimovic used to explain why Real Madrid were ‘too big’ for Eden Hazard & forced Belgian star into early retirement

The former Belgium international hung up his boots in October 2023 at the age of 32. That shock decision was made three months after severing ties with La Liga giants Real as a free agent. Clubs from around the world expressed interest in Hazard, but he decided to call it a day.

Hazard was considered to form part of the global elite during his seven-year spell at Chelsea, but he never got going in Madrid following a €100 million (£84m/$107m) transfer in 2019 and one of his former coaches believes that is because he lacks the character of Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic and Co.

Luc Eymael, who worked with the likes of Hazard and Christian Benteke during their younger years in Belgium, has told SportsBoom.com: “Why Eden stopped his career and why he didn’t do well at Real Madrid, first of all, I think that Real Madrid was too big for Hazard, and I think his motivation was less high than when he was at Chelsea. Hazard has always been a very talented player, but he is a player that is not like Cristiano, like these types of players, like Ibrahimovic or even Olivier (Giroud), these guys here are a bit old but these players are very disciplined in matters of urging of life and in matters of training, you know, Hazard doesn’t like too much training Unfortunately that is the truth, he is a very talented player and he had a fantastic career, a big respect for him, he is a very good person but that is one thing, in soccer when you reach a certain age, you need to work harder, when you see Ronaldo he comes the first one in training and leaves the last one in training, he is rich and doesn’t need any money anymore but he wants to show to everybody that he is still there, he is still hungry about football and I think even worse hungry about the game.”

Eymael added on Hazard’s reluctance to work hard off the pitch going against him: “I am not in Hazard’s head but that is my thinking, also he didn’t like to train, he didn’t like to train hard and more, and he didn’t want to be committed 100 per cent. As a player you have to take care of your body by training through specific training sessions. If you lose motivation or commitment automatically you have a discipline issue, and automatically you cannot perform. And that is why you see the Hazard at Real Madrid and the Hazard at Chelsea was a big difference.”

Hazard is now enjoying life free from the stress of professional football – as he recently took part in the annual Soccer Aid fund-raising game back at Stamford Bridge – and will be among the interested observers when Belgium go in search of continental glory at Euro 2024 this summer.