Life as a football fan is all about riding the wave with your favourite team, experiencing unbelievable highs as well as inexplicable lows. But there is also the bittersweet middle ground of falling in love with a player from a rival club, something most fans experience at least once in their lifetime. Many people fight that urge and do not indulge in actively supporting the player. Others, like myself, succumb to the temptation. Even though I am a die-hard Manchester United fan and always will be, I could not resist the forbidden fruit named Eden Hazard, as I proudly became a resident of The Garden of Eden.
Having watched the Premier League for years, players who donned jerseys other than that of the Red Devils were bound to catch my eye. Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez and Alexis Sanchez were the ones I tracked closely, even though I could not stand the sight of their teams doing well. I liked their style of play and, as a budding footballer myself, wanted to inculcate their qualities into my own game.
It was jaw-dropping to see how effortlessly Hazard took the world’s most competitive league by storm
Hazard quickly became a fan-favourite at Stamford Bridge thanks to his electrifying feet Getty Images
2012-13 was a mixed bag for me. Chelsea had just won the UEFA Champions League & Europa League in successive seasons, much to my dismay, while United had clinched our last Premier League title (till date) before Sir Alex Ferguson retired. It was also the time when my football foundations were shaken as the Blues signed a diminutive Belgian from Lille, whose genius would blow me away in the years to come.
Within his first few years in London, Hazard quickly made his way into my Forbidden Favourites Club, mainly because of his supreme skill and flair. It was jaw-dropping to see how effortlessly he took the world’s most competitive league by storm. Over on the red side of Manchester, Wayne Rooney had already cemented himself as my number one favourite. In a world full of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fans, I felt the strongest connection to Rooney. But just as Wazza was entering the twilight of his career, Hazard started to capture my attention. The decision to make him my new favourite was an easy one. I felt drawn to him since day one and, in my heart, he was the only worthy successor to Rooney.
Hazard brought the best of all my favourite non-United players into one. He had Aguero’s strength, Sanchez’s dribbling, Suarez’s tenacity and Torres’s potency. He also had Rooney’s match awareness. His ball-carrying traits, sudden bursts of pace, precise dribbles, shielding techniques, cheeky flicks, visionary assists and cool finishes left me wanting more. I found myself watching my least favourite team every week, still hoping they lose but wanting Hazard to do well. Of course, the Fantasy Premier League Manager in me also resonated with that sentiment. As someone who knows how hard it is to do what Hazard does on the pitch, what really enamoured me about the Belgian was the manner in which he drew fouls. He broke stride and took smaller steps to get his feet in between the ball and the defender. In doing so, he introduced me to the subtle art of winning a foul.
As a United fan, Hazard being my favourite also annoyed me no end
Hazard taking on Manchester United players in the 2018 FA Cup final Getty Images
Soon enough, a few of my teammates, even opponents, pointed out similarities between Hazard’s playing style and mine. Needless to say I felt flattered, unjust as I felt the comparison was.
Perhaps it was our stature, short strides and bursts of speed that brought up the parallels, but I happily embraced the compliment. The super fan in me went on to emulate his beard and haircut, too. We both wore the number 10 as well, though my allegiance to that number had started from the days of admiring Rooney.
As a United fan, Hazard being my favourite also annoyed me no end, as he was a constant thorn in my club’s path between 2013 and 2019. The FA Cup final in 2018 was the toughest pill to swallow. Seeing Hazard lift the coveted trophy at United’s expense after scoring the only goal of the game was as bittersweet as fandom could get. I could not help but think what more he could achieve if he left the West London club. In 2018, rumours of a switch to Real Madrid had started brewing and that gave me a glimmer of hope. Cristiano Ronaldo going to Madrid in 2009 meant that it was a team every United fan backed as their second favourites.
Then came the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Leading Belgium’s golden generation, Hazard claimed the Silver Ball (for the tournament’s second-best player) alongside the bronze medal for his team. That was his stage to show the world how special he truly was. Hazard’s performance against Brazil in the quarter-final, when he (in tandem with an imperious Kevin de Bruyne) outshone the likes of Neymar and Philippe Couitnho will go down as one of the greatest individual displays of his career.
After a sublime show in Russia, the winger chose to be loyal and saw out his Chelsea contract, which meant another year of conflict for me. He signed off with a memorable display in the Europa League final in 2019, winning the trophy for the second time. The Premier League bid goodbye to one of its all-time greats, as Real Madrid said hola to their newest Galactico.
I begrudgingly accepted this end without an ending, much like Hazard must have done himself
The author posing with a Real Madrid jersey bearing the name of his footballing hero Liam Bain
Before Hazard’s first season in the Spanish capital began, I treated myself to a Madrid jersey with his name on the back, eagerly anticipating golazos week in week out. But the grass was not greener at the Santiago Bernabeu. I would tune into Madrid’s games only to find Hazard on the bench, injured or unpicked. Even when he got a decent string of games, he could only be a shadow of himself at Chelsea. What made matters worse was that having left Chelsea to try and win the Champions League, Hazard ended up empty-handed for three straight years, even though Chelsea somehow snatched another UCL crown in 2021, narrowly beating Manchester City. To my delight, justice prevailed the next season when Madrid finally became European champions once more, getting the better of Liverpool in the final (double delight then!). Hazard may not have played much that season, but for all he gave to football, the beautiful game repaid him with the winner’s medal that he always deserved.
My heart sank as Hazard continued to struggle with his fitness in Madrid, before pulling the plug and quitting the world’s most decorated club through a mutual agreement. With his future up in the air for weeks, my plight got worse when I found out that my hero had officially retired from football. I begrudgingly accepted this end without an ending, much like Hazard must have done himself.
There are those who will argue that, at 32, Hazard still had a lot of football left in him. But I am glad that the football that he did play never ceased to inspire me. Thank you, Eden Hazard, for the countless moments of joy you gave me, even though most of them made me desperate to see you in a different shirt.
Liam Bain is a professional footballer and commentator based in Kolkata