{"id":290730,"date":"2023-10-11T00:44:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T00:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=290730"},"modified":"2023-10-11T00:44:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T00:44:30","slug":"eden-hazard-hailed-by-juan-mata-as-one-of-best-as-belgian-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/eden-hazard-hailed-by-juan-mata-as-one-of-best-as-belgian-retires\/","title":{"rendered":"Eden Hazard hailed by Juan Mata as &apos;one of best&apos; as Belgian retires"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Kylian Mbappe, Juan Mata and host of football stars pay tribute to Eden Hazard, as he is hailed as &#8216;one of the best ever&#8217; after announcing his retirement at 32<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>The Belgian was without a club since he Real Madrid released him in the summer<\/li>\n<li>Mata described Hazard as &#8216;one of the best&#8217; and said he brought &#8216;joy to football&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast &#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!&#8217;\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Eden Hazard has been hailed by Kylian Mbappe, Frank Lampard\u00a0and Juan Mata as &#8216;one of the best&#8217; as a string of stars pay tribute to the Belgian international who has retired at the age of 32.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After being left without a club since he was released by Real Madrid in the summer, Premier League legend Hazard has confirmed his decision to retire from football via a post on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Writing on Instagram, he said: &#8216;After 16 years and more than 700 matches played, I have decided to end my career as a professional footballer. I was able to realise my dream, I have played and had fun on many pitches around the world.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Responding to his post, former team-mate Mata &#8211; who played with Hazard for a season and a half at Stamford Bridge before the Spaniard joined United in January 2014 &#8211; said: &#8216;Oh how I enjoyed playing with this guy&#8230; One of the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Enjoy your new chapter my friend, you deserve it, thanks for bringing your joy to football.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/10\/76373009-0-image-a-8_1696930861024.jpg\" height=\"439\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Chelsea player Eden Hazard confirmed his retirement at the age of 32 on social media<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/11\/76374019-12614077-image-m-17_1696932244218.jpg\" height=\"550\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/11\/76374027-12614077-image-m-18_1696932253064.jpg\" height=\"347\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/11\/76374029-12614077-image-a-15_1696932233985.jpg\" height=\"155\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former stars and team-mates take to social media to pay tribute to &#8216;one of the best&#8217; Hazard<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea legend Frank Lampard also commented on the post: &#8216;Congratulations @hazardeden10. What talent, and what a career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It was a pleasure to play with you, and you are a top man in every way. Good luck with what comes next.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Paris Saint-Germain&#8217;s Kylian Mbappe posted on his Instagram story: &#8216;Le grand Eden. MERCI,&#8217; which translates to: &#8216;The great Eden, thank you.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Fulham player Willian, who played for Chelsea from 2013 until 2020, wrote in the comments section: &#8216;It was a huge pleasure to play with you my brother, may God continue blessing your life. Thank you for everything love you bro!!!&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fellow Chelsea team-mate Danny Drinkwater also said: &#8216;Was a short period we spent together bro&#8230; but it was an honour! True magician. All the best.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A string of Hazard&#8217;s former clubs also took to social media to share their thanks and best wishes to the Belgian.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Belgian national team X account wrote:\u00a0&#8216;Thanks for everything, captain,&#8217; while Anderlecht commented: &#8216;What a career. All the best for the future Eden.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Some of Eden&#8217;s Belgian teammates also posted tributes, with Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois writing: &#8216;Thank you for everything my friend!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/11\/76374017-12614077-image-m-22_1696932322227.jpg\" height=\"506\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/11\/76374023-12614077-image-m-25_1696932355312.jpg\" height=\"506\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Both Kylian Mbappe and former Chelsea team-mate Juan Mata share their praise of Hazard<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/10\/76373053-12614077-image-a-10_1696931006361.jpg\" height=\"413\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Juan Mata, who played with Hazard for a season and a half, described him as &#8216;one of the best&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/11\/76374199-12614077-image-a-26_1696932475130.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Posting on social media, Paris Saint Germain&#8217;s Kylian Mbappe wrote: &#8216;The great Eden Hazard&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The Premier League&#8217;s official X account said: &#8216;An illustrious playing career comes to an end. Wishing you the best in retirement @hazardeden10.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hazard scored 85 goals and recorded 54 assists for Chelsea in the Premier League, winning two league titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Explaining his decision to retire on Instagram, the Belgian wrote: &#8216;You must listen to yourself and say stop at the right time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;During my career I was lucky to meet great managers, coaches and teammates &#8211; thank you to everyone for these great times, I will miss you all.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I also want to thank the clubs I have played for: LOSC, Chelsea and Real Madrid; and thank the RBFA for my Belgian Selection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;A special thank you to my family, my friends, my advisors and the people who have been close to me in good times and bad.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Finally, a huge thank you to you, my fans, who have followed me for all these years and for your encouragement everywhere I have played.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Now is the time to enjoy my loved ones and have new experiences. See you off the field soon my friends.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/10\/76373011-12614077-image-a-12_1696931517706.jpg\" height=\"434\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The former Lille, Chelsea and Real Madrid player has called time on his playing career<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/10\/76373017-12614077-image-a-11_1696931514400.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Hazard has been without a club after he was released by Real Madrid in the summer<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12614077\/Eden-Hazard-hailed-Juan-Mata-one-best-former-Chelsea-team-mate-joining-host-stars-paying-tribute-Belgian-announced-retirement-32.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kylian Mbappe, Juan Mata and host of football stars pay tribute to Eden Hazard, as he is hailed as &#8216;one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eden Hazard hailed by Juan Mata as &amp;apos;one of best&amp;apos; 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