Football: Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard ready to put ‘worst season of career’ behind him
Belgian playmaker missed most of season for Real Madrid through injury and loss of form
Despite the club’s success on the field, Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard says 2019-20 has been “the worst season of my career” on a personal level.
Real regained La Liga title from Barcelona thanks to a run of 10 straight wins in the Spanish league but former Chelsea hero has missed large parts of the campaign due to injury and a loss of form.
The Belgian talent, 29, fractured his ankle in November and broke his foot two months later on his return to action. He was out for three months after surgery, and came back when the Spanish league restarted in June after the suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Hazard played very little after the recovery for Real, and was injured again in the 1-0 victory over Espanyol. He played an hour in the 2-1 win over Villarreal on Thursday that handed Real the title with a seven-point lead over Barca with one game left.
“This year we won the title collectively. For me, at an individual level, I’ve had the worst season of my career for sure,” Hazard said in an interview with France Info.
“It was a bit of a strange season, with everything that happened. The next thing has to be the Champions League, even if it’s going to be difficult, because we have to play at Manchester City and they have a very good team.”
The Spanish giants now face a difficult task of beating City on August 7 in their second leg of the Champions League last 16 stage. Real lost to City 2-1 at home in their first leg clash.