SPANISH TV LEFT UNIMPRESSED BY HAZARD VISUALS AFTER SEMI-FINAL EXIT V CHELSEA
It is not a particularly good time to be Eden Hazard. The Belgian had hoped for a fruitful return to the stadium in which he produced the goods for seven years, but instead, it was a forgettable night at the ‘Garden of Eden’, as Real Madrid were knocked out of the Champions League by his former employers Chelsea. Goals from Timo Werner and Mason Mount knocked the 13-time winners out of the competition, adding to the misery to a very anonymous Hazard on the night.
As a result, Hazard’s miserable spell at the Spanish capital so far looks set to continue further. If his performance was not reason enough to enrage the Los Blancos faithful even more, his interaction with former teammate Kurt Zouma and Édouard Mendy seemed to add fuel to the fire. Hazard was seen to be congratulating his former teammates and was also seen to be visibly amused at something that the French centre back said after the second leg of the semi-final encounter.
The visuals, albeit the fact that it could have been in quite a different context, left supporters back in Spain very unimpressed – after a display where both he and the rest of the team were left nullified by a stronger and sharper Chelsea side. The interaction was doing the rounds on Twitter not long after the game, while a clip of Spanish TV presenter Josep Pedrerol reacting to Hazard on El Chiringuito TV went viral only some minutes after the record champions’ exit.
The feature was kicked off by the visual of Hazard laughing with Zouma and Mendy while some intense music played in the background – as Pedrerol ripped into Hazard’s performance, as well as his post-match reaction. Hazard posted a letter of apology on Instagram a day after the match, saying that it was not his intention for his reaction to being perceived the way that it did – but it is doubtful whether Real Madrid fans will still be backing their marquee Belgian after two seasons riddled by injury problems. Following the match, Pedrerol also tweeted that Hazard is on the market as Real Madrid want to make up a portion of the 100 million pounds they spent on him in 2019.
