Football
#WelcomeHazard: Eden Hazard kisses Real Madrid badge during unveiling
Eden Hazard wasted no time to endear himself to Real Madrid fans as he obliged their call for him to kiss the club badge in a show of loyalty.
Eden Hazard wasted no time to endear himself to Real Madrid fans as he obliged their call for him to kiss the club badge in a show of loyalty.
Real Madrid unveiled Hazard this evening after he completed his medical on Thursday in front of a reported 50,000 fans at the Bernabeu.
The Belgian captain joined the Spanish giants from Chelsea for a fee reported to be worth €100 million (£88m/$112m).
The former Lille forward is yet to be assigned a jersey number although it is reported that he will wear the iconic number 7 shirt.
😘 The #RMFans ask for @hazardeden10 to kiss the badge… AND HE DOES! #WelcomeHazard | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/3ioqxJvTSm
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) June 13, 2019
🔊👏 Many thanks… and #HALAMADRID!@hazardeden10 | #WelcomeHazard pic.twitter.com/AYGeSRpMcM
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) June 13, 2019
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Hazard has made no secret of his desire to join Real Madrid, calling the move a ‘dream’ near the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
Following Chelsea’s Europa League final triumph over Arsenal – a game in which Hazard scored twice – the Belgian admitted he’d likely played his final match for the Blues.
“My dream ever since I was a child has been to play for Real Madrid,” he said.
After signing his contract, Real president Florentino Perez introduced Hazard, who first spoke in Spanish saying: “Hola todos” (hello everyone), before continuing with a short speech in French.
He then changed into the Real kit and walked onto the pitch, before kicking gold and white balls into the crowd and kissing the club’s badge.
Later in a news conference, he said: “I’m going to try to become the best player in the world, but first I wanted to be in the best team in the world.
“I’m not a Galactico, but I’ll try to be, for now I’m Eden Hazard.”
Hazard did not have a number on his shirt, as the number 10 he wore at Chelsea and for Belgium is taken by Luka Modric at Real.
“I’ve been lucky enough to talk to Modric through Kovacic, I jokingly asked him to leave me number 10 and he said no,” said Hazard. “The number for me is not important.”
Hazard said Real had made a move to sign him after last summer’s World Cup, but said now was “the best time” to join the Spanish club.
“I don’t think it is too late, I am 28 years old, the best moment for a player,” he said.
Zinedine Zidane returned to the club for his second spell as manager in March and Hazard said the Frenchman was a factor in his move.
“Everyone knows Zidane was my idol growing up,” he said. “That he is the coach has been an important factor but not the only one. I already wanted to play here.”
