Chelsea fans have been discussing a potential return of Eden Hazard. Hazard's Real Madrid drew the Blues in the Champions League once more with the quarter-final tie being played next month.
Having beaten the reigning European cup holders in 2021 on their way to lifting the trophy themselves, Hazard has come back to the ground he left in two of the three years since he left in 2019. Madrid got the better of Chelsea last season though, knocking out Thomas Tuchel's side 5-4 on aggregate.
This time Los Blancos come into the game as champions and with the intention of once more defending their crown. Hazard, who never won the trophy at SW6, does now have a winner's medal for the biggest prize in European club football but only played 83 minutes across the continental quest to success.
READ MORE: Real Madrid already have huge Chelsea advantage and Carlo Ancelotti knows it
It was a hollow victory for the talented Belgian but sums up his time in Spain having struggled to find any semblance of the fitness or form that made him one of the Premier League's best attackers. Now 32 and with just 98 league minutes this term, Hazard is once more approaching this game without much hope of featuring.
"I'm not here to give each player minutes, I'm here to win games," Carlo Ancelotti said before playing Liverpool last week. "I put the best starting eleven to win games. I don't look at how much a player earns or his age, it's just about performances."
Hazard was left as an unused substitute for both legs of the previous round and has only played 120 minutes of the four times that the teams have met across the past two seasons. He has been isolated and fallen down the pecking order with a summer transfer away on the cards.
“In January it is impossible, because I have family and I like the city,” he said during the winter window as he was linked with a move to Newcastle and the MLS. “But in summer it is possible that I go. I have one more year on my contract and it’s the club’s decision.
“If the club tells me, ‘Eden, thanks for four years but you have to go’, I have to accept it because it’s normal. But I would like to play more, show more that I can play, that I am a good player.” Chelsea themselves have been in the mix of clubs reportedly keen on resigning him but Hazard himself has said that no offers have ever been made.
Meanwhile his brother, Kylian, admitted that he may wait until the end of his deal before finding a new club. “He is fine where he is, his family feels good there,” the fellow player said. “He has a contract until 2024 and I think he will wait until then [before leaving].
Teammate Toni Kroos is equally as blunt about the situation. “Maybe he’s playing a little less now and the team is functioning without him, but everyone knows how good he is. It’s a difficult situation for him. For a long time. But pity is out of place in football,’ Kroos told Eleven Sports.
"I don’t believe Eden has a bad life. You can feel sorry for people who have it much worse than Eden. It’s not just about money. I don’t feel sorry for anyone in football. In the end, everyone is partly responsible for their own situation.
"I know Eden very well. We are often together. But I feel sorry for people who are very, very bad, and Eden is not one of them."
It is a sad state of affairs for a player that blessed England with mazy dribbles and wonderful skill for seven years but in his 30s and without any sort of impressive record behind him a move to another elite side seems unlikely. "I would like to stay. I have always said it," he said ahead of the last-16 tie.
"I hope to play to show that I can still do it. People have doubts, it's normal. I understand it really good. But for me, I'm still here next year.
"You never know, but a transfer is not in the plan. What can make me change my mind? I don't know. All I think about is playing. That's why I don't even think about leaving. Deep down, I think: 'I can contribute something'.
"Sorry, that's all. If I contribute a little, people will trust me again. They may tell themselves that they made a mistake in leaving me out. I only need minutes in my legs."
With a reunion coming up in west London, his farewell to Chelsea is the clearest indicator of all as to how he feels about the Blues.
"To my Chelsea friends and family," he wrote on Instagram in 2019. "You now know that I will be joining Real Madrid. It's no secret that it was my dream to play for them since I was a young boy just scoring my first goal. I have tried my very best not to distract myself or the team through this difficult period of speculation and media attention, especially the last 6 months.
"Now the Clubs have reached an agreement I hope you understand I had to pursue my next chapter, just as each and every one of you should when you have the chance to pursue your dreams. Leaving Chelsea is the biggest and toughest decision in my career to date. Now it's in the open I would like to put on record one thing was always clear to me, I have loved every moment at Chelsea and not once did I ever consider, nor would I have left for any other Club.
"I was only 21 when I joined, so I have grown up as a man and a player with all of you, you have helped me become Captain of the Belgium National team after all. There have of course been tough times, for the team as a whole and for me personally, this is professional football. However, football to me is about having a ball at my feet, playing games and enjoying every moment, we are lucky to play the beautiful game and this is always my advice to those who ask for a coaching tip! Play football and have fun!
"Even when we were not playing well, I tried to do my best and this has been thanks to your amazing support. That fighting spirit, desire and the refusal to ever give up is part of the culture here at Chelsea and it comes directly from you.
"When I think back over my special moments in a Chelsea shirt, there are so many, we are lucky to win many more games than we have lost. Those who know me understand it is not me to list what I have won, all I can say is each and every award both as a team and as an individual have been incredible. One day I will be able to sit down over a beer and talk about or laugh with pride about my missed penalty that set up my header to win the league against Palace, or those goals against Tottenham, Arsenal or Liverpool.
"The memories are so vivid because of the atmosphere and occasion you create, I hope you always remember them with pride, as I do. Whether it's on tour in the USA, or at Sunderland on a Tuesday night, in Russia on a Thursday, or of course EVERY game at The Bridge - you've always supported me and encouraged me to play football and be me - Like I have enjoyed myself I hope you have enjoyed yourselves, I am only sorry not leave with a defending award amongst my honours!
"We have many great players and my proudest moments were always as part of the team. We've won the FA Cup, League Cups, Europa Leagues and Premier Leagues all as a family. Each one so special in its own way and of course the game in Baku a couple of weeks ago is the perfect way to sign off from a long tough season after the World Cup.
"Chelsea and especially Chelsea fans will always be special to me and next season I will look for your results first. I hope that we are drawn against each other in the Champions League next season and every season so we can meet again.
"Before I go, one last thank you to everyone at the Club for their tremendous effort as we lived through every moment. To all of my ex-Colleagues we will say our goodbyes at the right time but I must thank the owner Mr Abramovich and his board for helping me realise not one, but two dreams, my first in becoming a Chelsea player and today my second, becoming a player at Real Madrid.
"I wish each and every one of you the very best my friends. Eden."
The dream scenario for Chelsea fans may well be a path to the next round and yet another chance to serenade one of their favourites from over the years.
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