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Tag: Hazard

  • Two Real Madrid star players test positive for COVID-19

    Two Real Madrid star players test positive for COVID-19

    Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro and forward Eden Hazard have tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of their La Liga clash at Valencia, the Spanish champions said on Saturday.

    “Our players Casemiro and Hazard have given positive results in the COVID-19 tests carried out on Friday morning,” Real said in a statement.

    The club said that all other first-team players and coaching staff, as well as the club employees who work directly with them, had returned negative tests.

    Real defender Eder Militao had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week and was forced to miss Tuesday’s 3-2 victory against Inter Milan in the Champions League.

    Real, who are a point and place behind La Liga leaders Real Sociedad with a game in hand, face 13th-placed Valencia on Sunday.

  • Hazard scores for first time in more than a year in Madrid win

    Hazard scores for first time in more than a year in Madrid win

    Eden Hazard scored his first goal for more than a year as Real Madrid moved to the top of La Liga with an emphatic win over Huesca.

    The Belgian opened the scoring with a superb left-foot shot into the left corner from outside the penalty area.

    France forward Karim Benzema scored twice for the hosts, with Uruguay midfielder Federico Valverde getting their other goal.

    David Ferreiro scored the visitors’ only goal.

    Real, who had lost their previous two home fixtures, made a slow start and were fortunate not to fall behind against a Huesca side without a league win this season.

    However, Hazard’s goal sparked Zinedine Zidane’s side into life and Benzema’s neat left-foot finish then doubled their lead.

    The pair then combined to lay on the third for Valverde, with Benzema rounding off the scoring with a header after Ferreiro’s tap-in.

    Real are now two points clear of Real Sociedad and Cadiz at the top of the table, with Sociedad scheduled to face Celta Vigo on Sunday.

  • Ziyech can replace Hazard at Chelsea – Lampard

    Ziyech can replace Hazard at Chelsea – Lampard

    Chelsea boss Frank Lampard believes Hakim Ziyech is the man to replace Eden Hazard.

    Chelsea lost their chief creator in Hazard when he left for Real Madrid in 2019, while they also saw key players Pedro and Willian leave this summer.

    Ziyech could be introduced to the Premier League today at Turf Moor where Burnley and their low block defence will be awaiting the £36m playmaker signed from Ajax.

    “We had Pedro last season and Willian was a huge player,” said Lampard. “The year before that we had Eden Hazard. Those sort of players don’t get replaced on a whim.

    “With Hakim we had the potential to bring in someone with really different qualities to what we’ve had in recent years in terms of a left-footed, right-sided player, which was his main position position at Ajax.

    “I know he played in a No 10 role and he can definitely do that for us if we want to play that way.

    “But he does it in a way that he is very much about opening up chances for others with his crossing ability and final pass.

    “He’s not necessarily a winger who is going to fly past players all the time, albeit that is in his game. He can find a pass.

    “Sometimes last season I felt we lacked that option when we were playing against low-block defences.”

  • Hazard injured again as Real Madrid beat Eibar

    Hazard injured again as Real Madrid beat Eibar

    Real Madrid stayed two points behind Barcelona after a 3-1 win over Eibar on Sunday in a game that saw Marcelo take a knee and Eden Hazard suffer another injury.

    In their first game in three months following the coronavirus suspension, Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo all scored in the opening 45 minutes.

    Brazilian defender Marcelo marked his 37th-minute goal by taking a knee and raising a fist in protest against racism and sympathy with the Black Lives Matter movement.

    Hazard, playing for the first time since February after undergoing ankle surgery in March, was replaced in the second half with what appeared to be a recurrence of the same injury.

  • Hazard scores first goal in Madrid’s win

    Hazard scores first goal in Madrid’s win

    Eden Hazard has scored his debut goal for Real Madrid in their 4-2 win over Granada on Saturday to remain on top of La Liga.

    Hazard’s goal came on added time before half time. Hazard collected a pass and from inside the box, he lifted the ball over Rui Silva, who was off his line for a great finish.

    Hazard, who signed from Chelsea in June, lobbed Rui Silva at the end of the first half after Karim Benzema’s second-minute opener for the hosts.

    Luka Modric added an excellent third in the second half, but Darwin Machis and Domingos Duarte responded for Granada.

    James Rodriguez then scored late in stoppage time to ensure Real’s victory.

  • We hope Hazard needs us as much as we need him – Real Madrid

    We hope Hazard needs us as much as we need him – Real Madrid

    After five years without a ‘Galactico’ signing, Real Madrid have recruited Eden Hazard to return the dishevelled Spaniards to their perch as the best side in Europe, while the Belgian hopes his new team can elevate him to a higher level too.

    The 28-year-old agreed a five-year deal with Real on Friday in a reported 100 million euros (89 million pounds) transfer from Chelsea, making him the club’s joint-record signing with Gareth Bale, who joined from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013.

    He is also Madrid’s first marquee signing since forward James Rodriguez moved to the Bernabeu for 80 million euros after finishing as top scorer at the 2014 World Cup.

    But while the Colombian arrived at the then newly crowned Champions League winners, Hazard is joining a Real side in disarray after they ended the season without a trophy and having finished 19 points adrift of La Liga champions Barcelona.

    Even though Madrid have craved Hazard for years, the Belgian’s arrival is just one step in a huge rebuilding process being overseen by coach Zinedine Zidane, who has already signed Serbian striker Luka Jovic and Brazilian defender Eder Militao.

    Zidane is a known admirer of the former Lille winger and will hope Hazard’s silky play and dynamic dribbling can add excitement to Madrid’s attack and boost their waning goal threat since all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo left last year.

    Madrid have struggled for goals since Ronaldo’s departure for Juventus, as Welshman Bale and Marco Asensio failed to successfully step up, and Hazard has come to fill that void, poised to operate from the left flank with licence to roam.

    The Belgium forward’s goalscoring tallies for Chelsea have been erratic over the past few years but under the London club’s Italian coach Maurizio Sarri this season he has been lethal.

    Hazard scored 16 Premier League goals and provided 15 assists as Chelsea finished third in the standings, then providing a fitting swansong with two goals and an assist in the 4-1 win over Arsenal in the Europa League final.

    With Chelsea having fallen way behind Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League, Hazard leaves Stamford Bridge hungry to compete again for the top honours in the game, particularly the Champions League which he has never won.

    Despite Madrid’s awful last campaign, he could hardly be joining a team better versed in landing Europe’s elite competition, which they have won a record 13 times.

    “He’s in the top few players in the world,” Hazard’s former Chelsea team mate Frank Lampard told talkSPORT radio last month.

    “Of course it will be disappointing to lose him for the Premier League, but particularly Chelsea. You don’t replace Eden Hazard, you have to find ways around it.”

    Hazard’s ability to ghost past defenders and link up with team mates should see him forge a great partnership with Real striker Karim Benzema, who has enjoyed one of his best seasons despite the Madrid side’s collective failures.

    Benzema spent years toiling on behalf of Ronaldo, but Hazard scores and creates in equal measure and the French forward will enjoy collaborating with Madrid’s new hope.

    At Chelsea it seems Hazard often had to do it all himself, but if Zidane’s rebuilding is successful, the highly talented forward will have plenty of support at the Santiago Bernabeu.

  • Just in: Eden Hazard joins Real Madrid

    Just in: Eden Hazard joins Real Madrid

    Eden Hazard completed his long-awaited move from Chelsea to Real Madrid on Friday and could become the Spanish club’s most expensive signing in their history.

    Real said Hazard, 28, had signed a five-year contract.

    His contract at the Premier League club was due to expire next year but the Blues drove a hard bargain for the forward, who will reportedly cost Madrid an initial 100 million euros ($113 million), with another 45 million in potential add-ons.

    The full amount would trump the 101 million euros Madrid paid Tottenham for Gareth Bale and the 91 million euros they spent to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

    An unveiling at the Santiago Bernabeu is expected next week, once Hazard returns from international duty with Belgium, who play Euro 2020 qualifiers against Kazakhstan on Saturday and Scotland on Tuesday.

    It means Madrid’s spending spree is picking up pace following the arrivals of defender Eder Militao and striker Luka Jovic from Porto and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.

    But Hazard is the gem Zinedine Zidane can build his new team around and brings the kind of stardust Madrid fans have craved ever since the sale of Ronaldo to Juventus last summer.

    Ronaldo’s departure created a void up front that Madrid failed to fill last season, the team struggling for goals en route to finishing 19 points behind Barcelona in La Liga and crashing out to Ajax in the last 16 of the Champions League.

    Hazard, who scored 110 goals in seven seasons at Chelsea, will be expected to help plug the gap has long-been admired by Zidane and Madrid president Florentino Perez.

    “We have wanted to sign Hazard for several years and I hope he will come this year,” Perez told Spanish radio station Onda Cero last month.

    Less clear is where Hazard will fit into Zidane’s starting line-up. Assuming he plays in his favoured position on the left of a front three, it would mean displacing the 18-year-old Brazilian, Vinicius Junior, who enjoyed a brilliant breakthrough year last season.

    Chelsea said the club had tried to persuade Hazard to stay.

    “Although it is with sadness we say goodbye to Eden – and we made it absolutely clear to him the club wished him to stay – we respect the decision he has made to take on a new challenge in a different country and follow his childhood dream of playing for Real Madrid,” Chelsea club director Marina Granovskaia said in a statement.

  • 100th Chelsea goal: Moses celebrates Hazard’s spectacular performances

    100th Chelsea goal: Moses celebrates Hazard’s spectacular performances

    Chelsea winger, Victor Moses has joined in raining encomium on his club-mate, Eden Hazard, following the Belgium star’s century of goals for The Blues, footballlive.ng reports.

    Moses is all glee for Hazard, after the dashing winger-cum-midfielder hit his 100th and 101st goals from 322 Cheslea appearances in a 2-1 win at Watford on Boxing Day.

    Hazard is the 10th Chelsea player to register 100 goals and joins Blues legends Roy Bentley, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Tambling, Peter Osgood, Kerry Dixon, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard in the elite class.

    In celebrating his colleague’s feat, Moses, who joined Chelsea on August 24, 2012, 54 days after the London-based side acquired Hazard from Lille Metropole of France, joined some of his colleagues in recalling the star’s best goal of their choice for the squad.

    In his verdict, Moses picked Hazard’s winner away to Liverpool in the third round of the League Cup on September 26, 2018 as his favourite.

    Moses beamed with nostalgia: “It was unbelievable – I thought it was going to go to extra-time and then he took on three players and they thought he was going to cross the ball, and then he just let it go!”

     

  • I might leave Chelsea instead of extending my contract – Hazard

    I might leave Chelsea instead of extending my contract – Hazard

    The Belgium international has 18 months remaining on his contract and has been linked with both Real Madrid and Paris St Germain and admits a summer departure from Stamford Bridge is possible.

    “For now I’m staying at Chelsea,” Hazard told Canal Plus.

    “I have one year left in June. If I don’t extend, it (a move) is possible. I can’t see myself leaving in January. I wouldn’t do that to the club, to the fans.

    “Next summer it’s a possibility, but it’s also possible that I spend the rest of my career at Chelsea.”

    However, Hazard, who joined Chelsea from Lille in 2012, has ruled out the possibility Ligue 1 could be his next destination.

    “There has been contact in the past with PSG but I haven’t been tempted,” he added.

    “If I have to go back to France one day, it would be to Lille. But today, there is no chance that I’ll come back in the French league.”

  • Hazard to Real Madrid may never happen – Father

    Hazard to Real Madrid may never happen – Father

    Chelsea winger Eden Hazard’s father Thierry is unsure whether or not his son will move to Real Madrid in the future.

    The 27-year-old midfielder has yet to start a match for the Blues this season, having to make do with two cameo appearances against Huddersfield and Arsenal respectively.

    Hazard still made an impact with an assist in both games, a continuation of the fine form he showed with Belgium at the World Cup this summer. His future, though, remains up in the air.

    European champions Real Madrid have held a strong interest in the player for years, and although Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has insisted Hazard will remain in London , there remains a feeling that it is one day the player’s destiny to move to Spain.

    However, according to Hazard’s father Thierry, he might never join Los Blancos after a previous deal broke down.

    He told Hiet Nieuwsblad : “I can’t say why it did not go through. Not because I don’t want to, because I don’t know. Maybe they have a policy where they want to give the youth a chance. Eden will have one more year on his contract next summer, but he may never end up in Madrid. ”

    Thierry Hazard the went on to say that the transfer may have failed to materialise because of Zidane’s departure back in May, a coach whom his son admired for his achievements in the game as both a player and a manager.

    He added: “It could be that it had been a different story with Zidane. But on the other hand, he will also have had his reasons for leaving.”

    Thierry, who works as a sports advisor in Braine le Comte, also gave an update on his two other footballing sons, Thorgan and Kylian, both of whom have had spells with Chelsea.

    “Kylian has two years contract with Chelsea but will be loaned out,” he continued. “He did a test at VVV in the Netherlands but that did not happen. Now there is a chance in Spain for him.

    “Thorgan stays with Monchengladbach. At one point, Valencia was concrete and I spoke with the club in Spain. Nothing has come of it, but that is not bad. He has two years of contract left.”