Eden Hazard has opened up on his weight problems as a footballer for Chelsea and Real Madrid, the latter of which he failed to live up to expectations despite having a £100m price tag om his head.
Appearing on an episode of Mikel’s Obi One podcast, Belgian winger Hazard, 33, revealed some of the problems he had with his weight and fitness after his move from Chelsea to Real Madrid in 2019.
Hazard retired from the game in October after playing just 76 times in four seasons for Madrid following struggles with fitness and form and admitted that he decided to walk away because he ‘wasn’t having fun on the pitch’ anymore following his release by the club.
Responding to stories that he had turned up for pre-season out of shape, after he signed for Real Madrid, he said;
‘It was true,’ Hazard said
‘But me, every summer I was putting on four or five kilos because I was thinking you give so much for 10 months, you put your body at the highest level and people kick you, so your time off is your time off.
He admitted he was sometimes so lazy he didn’t even want the ball in training and didn’t want to be disturbed to do workouts while on holiday.
‘Don’t ask me to do anything. I enjoy being with my family, going to the beach, so don’t ask me to run in those three or four weeks. I can play football on the beach with my kids, no problem, but don’t ask me to run.
‘But if you look throughout my career, the first month [of the season] is the bit where I was thinking it’s just the beginning, and then from September and October I was flying, because I needed time to put my body and mind in the best way.
‘So yes, it’s true, I came back after holidays with five kilos, I knew it.
‘I love everything with family and friends. If you ask me to eat something I’m going to eat. Even if I don’t like it I’m going to eat!
‘As a Belgian guy, we love beers because my country has the best beers in the world, so I’m not telling you I used to drink every day because it’s not true, but sometimes after a good game, one or two is nice.’
Despite admitting he arrived at the Real Madrid overweight, Hazard insisted he could not have done much more to improve his time at the club, and opened up on why things really went so badly wrong right from the start.
When asked if he could have done things differently to hit the ground running at Madrid, Hazard replied: ‘I don’t think so. I think I was a bit unlucky with that period with Covid, because if you want to know the real story, I went to Dallas to do the surgery on my ankle then I came back to Madrid and it was Covid.
‘I had two to two-and-a-half months of Covid, me at home alone, no physio to do the rehab. I did my rehab alone. If I had to choose one thing to change I should have said to the doctor “bring a physio, I need a good rehab”. I have to do [it] because I want to play at the highest level.
‘And then when the Covid finished, we came back on the pitch, I pushed my body like crazy but my ankle was not the same and then I break everything the season after and then you know the story.
‘If you want me to change one thing it’s call the physio “come home, I know it’s Covid but please come home, I need rehab”. And things could be different at that time.’
Hazard was pushed further on whether Madrid could have given him more help with his recovery, but defended his former club.
‘At that time people were not allowed to on the street or to go to their job, and I didn’t push the physio or the doctor to “oh come on, I need someone”. For me, my rehab I did a few exercises, a few things alone. For me it was enough, I didn’t think that I had to do more.
‘At the beginning, I didn’t think I needed to do more. After two months I think “oh yeah, I should do more”, but at the beginning I was OK, I did my thing, I go outside running a bit, I do some exercise and it was not that bad, but then I cam back on the pitch and I felt it.’
Reflecting on whether he immediately knew after his return to action that he was in trouble, Hazard admitted: ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. After that period with Covid we came back on the pitch and we had like two months to play until the end of the season.
‘And we were that close to being champions so I was saying to Zidane “I want to push, I want to go” and then the day we finished champions I said “no, I can’t do any more, I’m finished”. My body is suffering a lot so I need to do a proper rehab, but it was already the end of the season.’
Hazard’s seven years of success at Chelsea saw the Blues win two Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups and two Europa League trophies.
