It can never go unnoticed. His name in the world of football is etched in fire. Chelsea It was his first big step and Real Madridin 2019, made the most important payment in its history, up to that point, for a footballer: it paid more than 115,000,000 euros for him. Eden Hazardthe elegant Belgian striker, who retired in October 2023 after a 16-year career and 700 games played, opened part of his privacy as a footballer and in a chat with John Obi Mikelwho was his teammate at Chelsea, told what problems he had to overcome in his last years as a player.
Mikel, who has a podcast called “Obi One”, interviewed his former teammate and addressed one of the controversies that dogged Hazard during his time as a footballer: the state of form in which he arrived at the preseason and began each league. The Belgian acknowledged that he enjoyed his free time to the fullest and that he was not one of those who continued training with discipline during the summers: “If he arrived out of shape? It’s true. Every summer I gained four or five kilos because I thought I had already given a lot for ten months. You put your body at the highest level and people kick you. So your free time is your free time”.
He continued: “Don’t ask me to do anything. I like being with my family, going to the beach… Don’t ask me to run in those three or four weeks. I can play soccer on the beach with my kids, no problem, but don’t ask me to run. So your free time is your free time. As a Belgian, I love beers because my country has the best beers in the world, so I’m not telling you that I used to drink every day because it’s not true, but sometimes after a good game, one or two are good.
The former great star of Belgium – he led his team, which came third in the World Cup in Russia – makes it clear that for him the holidays were sacred: “Don’t ask me to do anything. I like being with my family, going to the beach… Don’t ask me to run in those three or four weeks. I can play soccer on the beach with my kids, no problem, but don’t ask me to run”.
In addition, he told how he worked to get in shape once he joined the squads: “The first month of the season is the part in which I thought it was just the beginning, and then, from September and October, I was flying , because I needed time to get my body and mind in the best shape. So yes, it’s true, I came back from vacation with five kilos and I knew it.”
He had complex moments and in 2020 he experienced the toughest situation as a footballer. In November 2019 he was showing his best version, but the match with PSG came, in the Champions League, and a kick from Thomas Meunier took him out of the game, which forced him to have an ankle operation from which he had to recover in the middle of the pandemic due to Covid. The former footballer explained that this hurt him during his stay at Real Madrid: “I think I was unlucky at that stage with Covid. I went to Dallas to have surgery and when I came to Madrid the pandemic was already there. In two months of confinement, alone at home, I was recovering. If I had to choose to change just one thing, it would be asking the doctor to bring in a physio. When we returned to the field, I gave it my all, but my ankle was no longer the same and I broke it for the entire season”.
Obi Mikel and Hazard also spoke about the two coaches they had during their time at Chelsea and agreed that they were two managers with a lot of character: Antonio Conte and José Mourinho. However, Hazard explains that the Portuguese had certain gestures that brought the footballer closer to his driving style: “All week training… On Saturday I needed to enjoy myself a little. They were the only 90 minutes she could enjoy. He stopped practice, we did tactics. ‘No, we have to do this.’ Saturday was the best day. “Still, I think it was my best moment at Chelsea.”
And he also explained that with Mourinho he found comfort when it came to going out on the playing field: “Total freedom, I don’t know, but some freedom, yes. He knew that I was capable of winning games and he asked me to do my job. It’s that simple. And you know that with Jose, if you don’t do your job, he’s going to tell you in front of everyone. He gave me freedom, but not crazy. Sometimes he would say in training “don’t kick Eden!” and I said “What? Why? Yes, that’s fine with me.”
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