Hazard announces retirement and his admiration for Mohamed Salah

The 32-year-old Belgian footballer Eden Hazard announced his retirement from professional football on Tuesday via his Instagram account. "You have to know how to listen and say "stop" at the right time. After 16 years of career and more than 700 games played, I have decided to end my professional football career. I made my dream come true, to play and have fun on pitches all over Europe and the world," Hazard shared. Eden started his football career in the youth ranks at Lille between 2007 and 2012. It was there that he made his debut at the age of 16 and played his part in winning the French league title in 2011.

After his time in French football, Hazard moved to Chelsea between 2012 and 2019, where he also excelled and won two league titles and two Europa League titles, among other achievements. At this stage of his career, Eden Hazard was at his best with the Belgium national team, where he appeared as captain and led the team to third place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia under Spanish coach Roberto Martinez. Likewise, the Belgian attacker, in his statement, thanked the different teams where he played and his respective coaches, teammates, managers, he also thanked the Belgium National Team.

"During my career I have met great people, managers, coaches, teammates and I wanted to thank especially the clubs I have played for: LOSC, Chelsea and Real Madrid; and obviously thank again the Belgian national team," Eden added. After making his mark in France and England, Hazard signed for Real Madrid in 2019 in a transfer worth over €100 million. However, it wasn't all plain sailing as the player began to experience a decline in recent years due to injuries, prompting Real to terminate his contract a year early.

Hazard's admiration for Salah

In some of his interviews, Hazard showed his admiration for our Egyptian Pharaoh Mohamed Salah, whom he played against on several occasions, especially during his time with Chelsea, in some great matches.“Mo Salah is one of my good friends and he’s doing something incredible,” he continued. “I try to look at this player and this player and try to reach that level.”