When he was at his peak – he was unstoppable. It’s just that Eden Hazard’s peak didn’t last. And instead of the transfer to Real Madrid being his catharsis, it turned out to be his end. Now the former Belgian footballer, who retired already at the age of 32, does not hide the fact that to a large extent he himself influenced such a quick end to his career.In an interview with former Chelsea teammate John Obi Mikel, the 33-year-old Belgian openly talks about the extra pounds he carried during his tenure in Madrid, as well as the reasons for his early retirement. And not only about that, he also discovered who was the coach with whom he did not like to train at all, but was able to get the best out of him. And in the end, he surprised us with the name of the most talented teammate with whom he shared the field.But let’s start in order. One of the most interesting, and that is certainly the end at Real Madrid, in which there was already extensive talk about fitness.”That was correct. But I put on four or five kilos every summer. I was thinking: I give so much of myself in those 10 months of the season, your body is at the highest level, people are kicking you, so your time off is your time off. Don’t ask me anything during my time off. I enjoy being with my family, I go to the beach, I don’t train for those three or four weeks. I can play with the kids on the beach, no problem, but don’t make me run”, Hazard said with honesty.##NAJAVA_MECA_7890009##And it’s as if he doesn’t think that he did something wrong.”If you look at my entire career, the first month of the season was just the beginning, a warm-up, but in September and October I would fly. I just needed time to use my body and mind in the best way. So yes, that’s true, after vacation I always came back with five extra kilos, I knew that even then”.He has no regrets.”I like to spend time with my family and friends. I also eat what I shouldn’t be as an athlete. Also, I’m Belgian, we love beer there and we make the best beers in the world. It’s not that I drank every day, I didn’t, but sometimes after a good game, one or two are really nice.”And yet, if you ask Hazard if his career went down because of that, he himself will say that it didn’t. The coronavirus pandemic had a huge impact.”I was bad luck. If you want to know the whole story, I was in Dallas for ankle surgery, then I came back to Madrid and covid broke out. Two and a half months of covid, I am at home, without a physiotherapist to do rehabilitation with him. I did everything by myself. If I could change anything I would bring in a physical therapist. It was necessary for me, because I wanted to play at the highest level again… In this way, when everything was over, when I returned to the field – I was pushing my body to the limit, but my ankles just weren’t the same. I injured everything that season. You know the rest of the story.”Eden Hazard is propa Chels 😂💙 pic.twitter.com/JNQDKWPvja— TLV (@TheLampardView) February 19, 2024 I DIDN’T LIKE CONTE’S TRAINING SESSIONS AT ALL, BUT I PLAYED THE BEST UNDER HIMAt that time, Zinedine Zidane was still the coach of Real Madrid, he was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti. Hazard also worked with Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benitez, Maurizio Sarri, Guus Hiddink… But he states one ‘pulled’ the best out of him…”I played the best under Antonio Conte”, Hazard said straight away, and when Mikel reminded him that he hated training with Conte, Eden only confirmed it. “I hated it through and through”.But it was under Conte that Hazard played the 2016/2017 season, won the title and, at the age of 26, was recognized as the best player of the season.”All week long trainings. So I loved Saturdays (matchday). I would go out to enjoy myself, I had to. I knew: training again starting tomorrow. That was my 90 minutes of enjoyment. I have to do something. For the rest of the week, remember, stop the training, then talk about the tactics: ‘No, we have to do it like this’. Saturday was the best day”, Hazard remembers.”Give me the freedom, I am going to win games”- Eden Hazard pic.twitter.com/vVGSmTAF32— 🐬 @𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝘆 (@OneJoblessBoy) February 19, 2024 GAEL KAKUTA IS THE ONLY ONE TO MAKE ME GO ‘WOW’And as he was going down ‘memory lane’, Hazard mentioned a forgotten player who he will always remember.”At Real I played with the best in the world. Luka Modrić, Karim Benzema, that’s the top of the list. When you say Kevin de Bruyne, he is also at the top of the list. Frank Lampard, Juan Mata, all of them are the very top. But the only one that made me go ‘wow’ is Gael Kakuta. You asked me who was the greatest talent, and Kakuta was number one, by far. Talent, man, ‘wow'”, Hazard surprised everyone.The Belgian gave some clarification. He has known Kakuta since his youth days – they are peers.”We played a lot in France, I in Lille, he in Lance. It’s a derby, in the north of France. We won every game, 5-0 or 6-0. I’m always the best player of the game. But every time he played – we lost. He is the best player of the match. The best. That was normal. It’s easy to say now, but he left for Chelsea too soon. He was 16 years old, that’s too big a step”.After that, Kakuta wandered for a long time, and only in recent seasons has he returned to some resemblance of his potential glory, either with Lens or with Ligue 2 side Amiens. He also played a massive part in DR Congo reaching fourth place at the recent AFCON.I don’t miss playing football at all – Eden Hazard on retiring at 33 pic.twitter.com/Z6c97xDTcK— Dami’ Adenuga (@DAMIADENUGA) February 19, 2024
