Todd Boehly has the fixture he craved as Chelsea ready themselves for a post-international break clash with Real Madrid. It's the champions of Europe past and present colliding over two legs on the biggest stage.
When it comes to the clubs with the largest revenue and the biggest history, there are none bigger than the supergiants from Spain. Outside of England - and Manchester's blue cordon - no team generated more income in 2022 than Madrid. While doing that, they won the biggest prize in club football again.
It's the level of authority and superiority that Boehly and Co want to reach at SW6. On-pitch gladiators and off-field money-making pioneers. Never before have they had this sort of chance to inspect the best example of what they want to become.
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The last-eight tie will not only be the first of its kind for Boehly, who came in toward the end of last season after Chelsea had been knocked out by the same opposition, it will also be a reunion of many kinds. Carlo Ancelotti back (again) to his old side. Thibaut Courtois returning (again) to Stamford Bridge. Eden Hazard being serenaded by those who still love and appreciate him (again).
In the third telling of this story the narratives slightly run dry but there is a new angle to this one, at least. Antonio Rudiger, who turned down a new contract at SW6 in favour of a move to Madrid, largely before Boehly had come in, will be back in London too. He became a fan-favourite before leaving last summer for free.
The German has also teamed up with Hazard again having spent three years away from the Belgian attacker. The pair first played together at Chelsea in 2017 after Rudiger moved from Roma. They spent two very contrasting seasons playing in the same team before Hazard left to join Los Blancos.
Rudiger got to see the very best of Hazard in a blue shirt. In 2018/19 Chelsea's winger was the best player in the league, scoring 16 and assisting 15 in a team that finished third in the table. Rudiger meanwhile never truly hit the ground until nearly 18 months after that, only becoming the cult hero when Thomas Tuchel took over.
When they were reacquainted last summer Rudiger expressed his joy at seeing Hazard once more, saying: “I'm very happy to be with Eden again, now at Madrid.
“I know it's been a tough few years for him, with a lot of injuries and problems, but I still hope Madrid fans can see the Hazard I played with, because he was undoubtedly one of the best players in the world.”
Unfortunately for Hazard no such turnaround has happened. He has now retired from international football and rarely gets to see any game time at club level either. This season they have played just 98 minutes together and the 32-year-old looks a true shadow of the player that blessed England with his dribbles and freedom.
Rudiger is still correct in saying that Hazard was one of the best, hitting a remarkable peak in 2018 and showing the world his true levels at Russia 2018 as well. At that point the world was at his feet but right now his manager has little faith in him as Ancelotti has provided numerous brual reality checks for his fifth choice winger.
It was Zinedine Zidane that took charge of Madrid in 2021 for the first meeting between the teams in decades though, and he relied on Hazard from the start in the decisive second leg only for the choice to backfire in a 2-0 loss. "Eden has to get his confidence back and he needs to keep playing. Little by little, we have to make sure he recovers," he said at the time.
It was noticeable on that night that Hazard lacked any true pace or trickery that was so often on display in the very same stadium less than two years earlier. The confidence never really did recover and Zidane's continued defence of the player was ultimately never rewarded.
This time round Madrid have an advantage that they didn't have before when it comes to Hazard. He has played for Belgium consistently over the past decade, putting more minutes into his legs and straining even more energy out of him even when it has looked too much.
During this international break Hazard will, near enough for the first time since his debut in 2008 aged 18, have two weeks off from domestic action to prepare for what comes next. If there is to be a final coming of Hazard and his mercurial talents then it surely has to come after this rest period, not that he has been overworked recently anyway.
It's the last slither of hope that the Chelsea great will be back to anywhere close to his best. It's not the Hazard that Zidane had in 2021 but may well be the Hazard Ancelotti needs in 2023.
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