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In a match between Belgium and Turkey, Eden Hazard was substituted in the 60th minute. But instead of watching the rest of the game from the bench with his teammates like a normal person, he left the ground to eat a hamburger at a local restaurant with his family. Sure, he was only 20 years old, but the reputation of a player who loves hamburgers just wouldn’t go away. Because despite a two-match ban for that incident, later on when he moved to London, the player’s love for food vendors around Stamford Bridge forced Chelsea to ban a local burger van from selling to the star winger.
So unlike most professional players, Hazard didn’t seem to be able to control his craving for burgers. And if it hadn’t been for his sheer talent, he wouldn’t have become a legend and one of the greatest players of his generation. Eden Hazard, and despite his weakness, was so good, that even his own countryman, the legendary Kevin De Bruyne, didn’t succeed at Chelsea and couldn’t deal with strict Jose Mourinho. Hazard, on the other hand, was a great fit from day one.
Hazard was so good that he left a mark everywhere he went. In France, he helped Lille win the French league for the first time in 57 long years. In England, in the most competitive league in the world, and in a time where Chelsea are currently 10th in the league, he helped Chelsea win two Premier League titles. And even in Spain, at Real Madrid, he still left a mark. Sure, it was a bad mark, where he was seen as "the greatest flop in Real Madrid history" and "one of the worst transfers ever." But a mark, nonetheless.
But it wasn’t just success at a club level. With Belgium he captained their Golden Generation and led them to defeat Neymar’s Brazil in the quarter finals and finish third in the 2018 World Cup. That was not only Belgium's best finish ever, but it helped them top the FIFA men's ranking for the first time, and to say on top for the longest time for any European team in history.
But if Eden Hazard was so good, did eating a hamburger in the middle of a game really affect his career? It definitely seems so, because his struggles always seemed to be the result of fitness and dietary issues, especially during his time at Real Madrid. They paid 150 million pounds to sign him from Chelsea, and yet he arrived at the club for the first time ever 7 kilos overweight. That would look really bad for any player, let alone a player who was supposed to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s replacement.
And from that moment on, Hazard’s struggles in Madrid wouldn’t stop. Some of his struggles were his fault, like arriving to the club overweight and laughing with former teammates after Real Madrid's Champions League semi-final defeat to Chelsea. But other struggles were the constant injuries, fierce competition from the talented Vinícius Júnior, and a relationship with coach Carlo Ancelotti that was so bad, that the two of them were not even talking to one another.
Things were so bad for Hazard at Real Madrid, that he and the club reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract and put an end to his disastrous four years in Spain. When Cristiano Ronaldo terminated his contract with Manchester United, he went to Saudi Arabia and at 39 years old, led a revolution over there. But when Hazard terminated his contract with Real Madrid, 3 months later, he announced his decision to retire from professional football at only 32 years of age. That unfortunate decision marked the end of an incredible career from one of the most talented players of his generation. But was it a wrong decision? Would he have been able to be successful somewhere else? Or was he finished for good?