Eden Hazard has been criticised after the forward was seen laughing with former Chelsea team-mate Kurt Zouma following Real Madrid’s exit from the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Belgian was largely anonymous on his return to Stamford Bridge as Chelsea secured a comfortable victory in the second leg of their semi-final to knock the 13-time European champions out of the competition.
The 30-year-old has struggled for fitness since moving to Madrid for £100m in 2019 and was a surprise inclusion in Zinedine Zidane’s starting line-up after only just returning from his latest injury set-back.
Hazard was substituted shortly before the end of the match but came back onto the field following at full-time and was seen greeting Zouma and Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The images were not well received in Madrid, with the late night football chat show ‘El Chiringuito’ discussing the incident at length.
The host, Josep Pedrerol, opened the show by saying: “Real Madrid are out of Europe as Hazard finds time to laugh and joke.
“Two years of taking the piss out of Real Madrid fans... two years of being overweight... just another Gareth Bale.”
Hazard’s performance was defended by Zidane following the match, with the Real Madrid manager saying: “Eden has to play. He has to regain his confidence, little by little, by playing.”
