In the familiar environment of Stamford Bridge and surrounded by close friends Kurt Zouma and Cesar Azpilicueta, Eden Hazard could be forgiven for celebrating an impressive Chelsea victory like he had done on countless occasions before.
The playmaker’s jovial expression was painted across his face, greeting Zouma with a wide grin and fist bump, laughing and joking around. Those who are familiar with Hazard’s light-hearted persona will attest this is entirely typical of the Belgian.
Except this time, he was on the opposite team to the pair.
And as far as forgiveness goes, the fiercely loyal arbiters of Real Madrid might not willing to let it slide.
It was the first time the winger had returned to west London since leaving for the Spanish capital in a £130 million deal in the summer of 2019. Unlike Thibaut Courtois’ acrimonious exit, Hazard’s departure had left Chelsea supporters feeling heartbroken but not betrayed.
There was a general acknowledgement that Hazard carried the team for the best part of seven years and leaving with two Premier League titles, one Europa League trophy and 110 goals, he had done his bit. In their eyes, he is one of their greatest-ever.
Moving to Madrid helped Hazard realise a dream he had held since he was a young boy growing up in La Louviere. He had admired Zinedine Zidane as a player; now he was working under the Frenchman.
But some 18 months later, the 30-year-old’s time in Madrid is quickly turning sour — and the events of Wednesday night will have done nothing to help endear himself to the fans.
Chelsea had produced in a spectacular display to reach a third Champions League final, and their first in nine years since that famous night in Munich. The same could not be said for Hazard or Real Madrid.
Thomas Tuchel’s men had the slight edge going into the second leg, following the 1-1 draw at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano the week before, and followed up their away display with a dominant home performance.
Timo Werner’s close range header put the hosts in front on the night before Mason Mount made sure of their place in the final in Istanbul on May 29, where they will face Manchester City in an all-English clash.
It will go down as one of the Blues’ greatest Champions League nights, even if it wasn’t reflected in the scoreline. Indeed, the only negative aspect of Kai Havertz and N’Golo Kante’s excellent performances was their failure to beat Courtois when put clean through on goal.
Down the other end, Edouard Mendy had two saves to make in the opening half an hour from Karim Benzema. The rest of the attempts sent his way were either tame or charged down by a resolute Chelsea backline. In Hazard’s case, the goal threat was non-existent.
Hazard was deployed in a central attacking position behind Benzema and aside from some neat touches, he never looked like hurting his former side, with N’Golo Kante and Jorginho expertly squeezing the space around him.
The blame cannot be placed entirely at Hazard’s feet for his below-par display, as he was thrown into the team with only his second start since returning from a long injury lay-off.
Given his evident lack of match fitness, it was a huge surprise to see him start the game, let alone last 89 minutes.
It’s understandable if he had begged coach Zidane to play so he could make an impression after a torrid start to his Real Madrid career. He found the net only once in 22 games during an injury-hit debut season, struggling to overcome recurring muscle and ankle problems.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he has only managed 18 appearances in the current campaign. Incredibly, it means that Hazard has missed 58 games for Los Blancos through injury. For the duration of his time with Chelsea, he only missed 21.
There is a sense of confusion relating to his injury proneness and poor form, given how he danced past defenders at Chelsea and rarely was absent.
But when he first arrived in Madrid for pre-season, it was claimed in the Spanish press he was eight kilos overweight. That represented a bad start to life and things haven't improved since.
Hazard has somehow exacerbated the situation after his post-match antics were captured by the TV cameras. And it’s no shock, really; it was always going to trigger a furious response from fans and pundits in Spain after a Champions League semi-final defeat.
Perhaps he knew it would.
Footage from Spanish football show El Chiringuito went viral on social media after its host, Josep Pedrerol, blasted Hazard and told him to leave in a bizarre rant.
“Real Madrid are out of Europe as Hazard finds time to laugh and joke,” he said.
“Two years of taking the p*** out of Real Madrid fans. Two years of being overweight... [he’s] just another Gareth Bale.”
Bale was heavily criticised for his inability to escape injury for the latter stages of his time in Madrid, but at least he had a defining contribution to Real’s success in Europe.
Now he is out on loan at Tottenham, it seems Hazard has become the new scapegoat — and he hasn’t enjoyed his moment of glory yet.
He shouldn’t take it personally. Even Cristiano Ronaldo was often booed by the Madridstas, the club’s ‘ultras’, despite his unbeatable goal record. But there are some who felt Hazard should apologise for his actions.
"He should be doing everything in his power to make sure that he can get back into some sort of favour with the Real Madrid fans,” ex-footballer Terry Gibson told Sky Sports News.
"It's not often I say it but I do think Hazard does owe Real Madrid... the Real Madrid supporters, and that wasn't a good look after the game last night.”
Hazard could say “ lo siento ”, but that would do little to win over the notoriously hard-to-please Madridstas. On the contrary, if he were ever to rejoin Chelsea, there is no question Hazard would retain his hero status with the supporters.
One way to help repair his relationship with the Madrid fans is to make a meaningful contribution to their LaLiga title run-in with five games to go. Memories are short in football, after all.
But any more repeats of his Stamford Bridge horror show and Hazard risks becoming a Real Madrid villain for good.
