EDEN HAZARD revealed he was an Arsenal fan growing up.
And the Real Madrid star, 30, intends to keep playing until he is 36 – despite his injury hell.
Eden Hazard has ambitions to keep playing at the top until he is 36Credit: Getty Images – Getty
The Real Madrid star, right, and his brothers are Belgian but idolised the French national team growing upCredit: Twitter
The Belgian winger broke through at Lille and joined Chelsea in 2012, going on to score 110 goals in 352 appearances for the Blues.
But as a boy, his admiration was for their London rivals Arsenal thanks to their exciting French heroes.
Hazard told On The Front Foot: “When I was little the team I watched the most was the French national team.
“For me, the players I looked up to were Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry.
“It’s difficult for me to admit because of my relationship with Chelsea, but I really liked the Arsenal team at the time.
“They had players like Robert Pires, [Sylvain] Wiltord and [Patrick] Vieira, so it was mainly French players that I followed growing up.”
Hazard won two Premier Leagues, the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League during his seven years at Stamford Bridge.
But since his £88million transfer to the Bernabeu in 2019, he has struggled to kick on due to a series of physical setbacks.
According to transfermarkt.com, Hazard has had ten problems – including a broken ankle, coronavirus and his current leg strain.
However, he hopes to still be going for another six years before hanging up his boots.
The Los Blancos forward added: “I’m just hoping to play football for as long as possible, and I always try to enjoy myself on the pitch.
“When it comes to the end of my career I can look back at my achievements, but my priority now is playing well and enjoying my football.
“I don’t think about where I will be in the next few years, I try to focus on the next match and the next training session.
I’ve only just turned 30, hopefully I can keep playing for another six years
Eden Hazard
“I’ve only just turned 30 so as long as my body feels good, hopefully I can keep playing for at least another five or six years.”
He continued: “I’m lucky that when I’m injured and stuck at home, I have my family to get me through.
“It’s not the end of the world for me because I can spend time with my kids, when you’re alone and injured it can be tough but I’m lucky that I have my family to support me.
“When you’re injured there’s only so much you can do, you can work to get better faster but the injuries I have had to just take time to heal.
“I just have to wait, work hard to get better and when I’m at home I can enjoy the time with my family.”
Arsenal’s success while Hazard was a kid was largely down to the French influence on the side from the likes of Thierry Henry and Patrick VieiraCredit: Reuters
He won two Premier League titles during his seven years at Stamford BridgeCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
