Eden Hazard: Worst season of my career on individual level

Madrid, July 20 (IANS): Injury-plagued Real Madrid attacker Eden Hazard has admitted that this year is “the worst season of my career,” although his side achieved great success by surpassing Barcelona after 10 straight wins to take the trophy in LaLiga.

The 29-year-old playmaker has had to deal with several injuries since his sensational move from Chelsea. The Belgian talent had a fracture on his ankle last November and unfortunately broke his foot two months later on his return. He was out for three months after surgery, and came back when the Spanish league restarted in June after the suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

Hazard played very little after the recovery for Real, and was injured again in the 1-0 victory over RCD Espanyol. He played an hour in the 2-1 win over Villarreal on Thursday that handed Real the title with a seven-point lead over Barca with one game left.

“This year we won the title collectively. For me, at an individual level, I’ve had the worst season of my career for sure,” Hazard said in an interview with France Info.

“It was a bit of a strange season, with everything that happened. The next thing has to be the Champions League, even if it’s going to be difficult, because we have to play at Manchester City and they have a very good team.”

The Spanish giants now face a difficult task of beating City on August 7 in their second leg of the Champions League last 16 stage. Real lost to City 2-1 at home in their first leg clash, and is reeling as City has two away goals.