Saturday 16 / November / 2024
Brussels: Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard erupted onto the scene as one of football's rising stars, but the Chelsea player has been dogged by injury during the past year, prompting questions about whether he has the potential to make it to the very top.
Ahead of the Euro 2016 in France, Hazard saw the championship as a chance to cast aside the shadows of his disappointing season at Stamford Bridge.
"I want to be the man of this Euro. I think that all of Belgium hopes for it," Hazard said in a television interview six weeks before the competition started.
"I want to try to win this tournament," he added, in quotes carried by the Sudpresse newspaper group.
Hazard was born in 1991 into a footballing family. His mother Carine played for the Belgian Women's first division, right into her pregnancy with Eden, while his father Thierry spent most of his career at a semi-professional level.
Hazard and his three brothers — including fellow Chelsea player Thorgan Hazard — grew up just metres away from a football training ground, where the boys honed their skills from a young age.
In 2005, aged 14, Hazard joined French first division club Lille. He rose through the ranks, helping his team win the league and the cup in 2010-11 and twice earning himself France's Player of the Year award.
Chelsea signed Hazard in June 2012 for a reported 32 million pounds ($46.5 million). Expectations were "understandably high" when he moved to Stamford Bridge, the club wrote on its website.
He did not disappoint at first, scoring 13 goals during his debut season. The following year, Hazard was the club's top scorer and in 2014-15 he won the Premier League title with Chelsea, as well as the Professional Football Association's Player of the Year award.
At the time, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho hailed Hazard as "one of the top three players in the world."
But then his fortunes changed. A persistent hip injury put Hazard out of action for part of the season and dented his confidence.
"It is not serious, but when the pain manifests itself it is stabbing," Hazard's father told Belgian daily Le Soir, comparing the sensation to "knife cuts."
Hazard's performances over the past year have been described as listless, while rumours have been circling about his possible departure from Chelsea.
"Last year everything was beautiful and this year everything has been dark for him, so the contrast is huge," the club's interim manager Guus Hiddink said in mid-April.
Later in the month, Hazard's skill came to the fore again as he helped Chelsea beat Bournemouth, scoring his first Premier League goals in almost a year.
Hazard, who wears the Number 10 shirt for Chelsea, is valued for his creativity and speed with the ball, which he controls equally well with his left and right foot.
"Eden is technically gifted and very fast. He will be a major star in the future," the former French football star Zinedine Zidane was quoted as saying in 2010, when Hazard was just 19.
He represented Belgium in youth squads before being called to the senior team in 2008, aged 17.
Hazard's first international goal was in 2011, against Kazakhstan, but that year he also made negative headlines with the so-called Burgergate scandal: During a match against Turkey he was seen outside the stadium eating a burger with his family, after being substituted.
During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Hazard assisted in two goals for the Red Devils, helping them to reach the quarter finals where they were eliminated by Argentina.
But he failed to score and later admitted he was disappointed with his own performance, telling Sudpresse that "things didn't work out as hoped." Even then, however, he expressed hope of redemption at future internationals.
"I hope to shine at the Euro 2016 in France; and then maybe I will still have the opportunity to play two or maybe even three more World Cups," Hazard said.
