• Home
  • Soccer
  • Eden Hazard's iconic moments for Chelsea, Belgium and more

Eden Hazard's iconic moments for Chelsea, Belgium and more

With a host of personal accolades alongside his significant achievements with club and country, Hazard now has the chance to create more history with Belgium at this year's Euros.

After leaving Tubize for Lille, Eden Hazard progressed through the French side's academy before forcing his way into Rudi Garcia's first team. Youth accolades, individual awards and domestic doubles aside, the Belgian then moved onto Chelsea in 2012.

Upon arrival at Stamford Bridge, Hazard lit up the Premier League, teasing defences with his creativity, speed and goalscoring knowhow.
Seven years after joining the Blues, his success, both domestically and in Europe, brought him to Real Madrid in a transfer worth up to €150million.

Alongside club success, the forward has also captained his country to their best-ever World Cup finish in 2018. For his individual brilliance and ever-growing trophy cabinet, Planet Sport wants to discuss some of Hazard's iconic moments in soccer.

Leading Lille to Ligue 1 & Coupe de France Glory

Breaking through the ranks at Lille, the Belgian attacker became the first ever player to win the UNFP Young Player of the Year award twice, courtesy of his consistent performances throughout 2008 to 2010.
However, his real breakout year in France came in 2010/11, in which he led Lille to their first Ligue 1 win in 57 years.
In Lille's title-winning campaign, Hazard produced seven goals and 11 assists, as he persistently tormented teams with his pace and two-footed finishing ability. The most memorable of his goals came against Marseille, where he scored from nearly 40 yards out with his left foot.
A week after winning the French top division, the Belgian was named Ligue 1 Player of the Year and, in doing so, became the youngest player to ever win the individual accolade.
Unsatisfied with just the one trophy, the then 19-year-old academy product led Lille to a 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Coupe de France final. This triumph meant Garcia's side achieved the club's first double since the 1945/46 season.

PFA Young Player of the Year

The young Belgian then outgrew Lille and a reported 37million bid from Jose Mourinho was enough to secure his services for Chelsea.

After a season of adapting and acclimatising himself with the Premier League, Hazard began to show his individual quality during the 2013/14 season.

A first ever Premier League hat-trick against Newcastle United and a brace against Sunderland were just a handful of notable performances, in a season where he scored 14 times and delivered nine assists.

For his individual brilliance and general attacking threat, Hazard won the 2013/14 PFA Young Player of the Year award, while also finishing runner-up to Luis Suarez in the PFA Players' Player of the Year category.
Unsurprisingly, this individual recognition would not be the last of Hazard's awards in the Premier League.

PFA Player of the Year & Winning his first Premier League with Chelsea

The following year, the Belgian winger announced himself as one of the world's best players, with a series of remarkable individual performances for the Blues.
Roaming in from the left-hand side to combine with Diego Costa, Hazard collected 14 goals and 10 assists, as he fired Mourinho's side to their first Premier League title since 2010.
This individual contribution led him to win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, while Mourinho also declared Hazard as "one of the top three players in the world".
Paying credit to his incredible season, it was only fitting that the Belgian scored the winning goal against Crystal Palace to seal the title, heading in a rebound from his own missed penalty against Julian Speroni.
eden hazard goal celebration penalty crystal palace chelsea stamford bridge

In the same season, the winger also won the League Cup with the Blues, who cruised past Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.

Hazard also won Chelsea's Player of the Year for a second year in a row, joining an illustrious club of players to have done so (Juan Mata, Frank Lampard, Ray Wilkins, John Hollins).

Starring in 'the Battle of the Bridge'

Despite an unusually quiet season by Hazard's standards, in which he scored four and assisted four, the Chelsea number 10 still stole the headlines in 2015/16.
The prior year, his penalty against Crystal Palace decided the Premier League winners. The following season, he once again scored the title-deciding goal, however, this time it was to deny local rivals, Tottenham a first top-flight success since 1960.
Dubbed 'the Battle of the Bridge' for its ferocious nature, Hazard's intervention against Spurs will be remembered by both sets of supporters forever.
The Belgian came on as a second-half substitute at 2-0 down and scored a wonderful, curling finish to peg Spurs back to 2-2, before the game degenerated into a series of unsavoury tackles and confrontations.

Continued domestic success at Chelsea

After a disappointing 2015/16, Hazard returned to form the next year, blasting in 16 goals and providing five assists to fire Chelsea to another Premier League title in 2016/17.

Throughout the season, the potent trio of Willian, Diego Costa and Hazard constantly tormented defences with their link-up play and general attacking nous.
A 2-0 win, in which the Belgian scored and assisted one, signified another first for Hazard, as it was the first time he had scored in three consecutive Premier League games.
Two more goals against Everton in a 5-0 win the following week took him to another Player of the Month award before scoring his 50th Chelsea league goal against Bournemouth on Boxing Day.
Domestic success followed the next season, despite not challenging for the Premier League, Hazard won the 2018 FA Cup, converting past David de Gea to score the only goal of the final against Manchester United.

100 Chelsea goals & Europa League win

With talk of a move to Madrid in the pipeline, Hazard was adamant he would collect one final trophy with the Blues.
In 2018, the Belgian scored both goals against Watford in a 2-1 win on Boxing Day, the first of which was his 100th for Chelsea and 150th career club goal.
In fact, despite constant scrutiny suggesting a transfer away, Hazard enjoyed his most productive season in the 2018/19 Premier League.
His tally of 16 goals and 15 assists won him the Premier League Playmaker of the Season award, while his record haul also secured him a place in another exclusive club of greats.
The Belgian joined Thierry Henry, Matt Le Tissier and Eric Cantona to become the fourth player to record at least 15 goals and 15 assists in a single Premier League season.

Buoyed on by his domestic form, Hazard then scored the winning penalty in a shootout victory over Eintracht Frankfurt to set up a Europa League final with neighbors Arsenal.

Hazard marked his final Chelsea appearance in style, scoring twice and assisting one in a man-of-the-match performance to secure Maurizio Sarri's men the Europa League, as they defeated Arsenal 4-1 in the final.
Post-match, after the European triumph, Hazard suggested he may be on the move. Consequently, a transfer to Real Madrid followed, where he is still plying his trade today.

Captaining Belgium's best World Cup finish & 2018 World Cup Silver Ball

For the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Hazard was appointed of his country, Belgium. After cruising through the group stages, it was the knockout stages where the Red Devils' captain impressed.

Hazard was instrumental in overturning a 2-0 goal deficit against Japan in the last 16, winning 3-2 to become the first team in 52 years to come back from 2-0 down to win a World Cup knockout match.
A surprise 2-1 victory followed against Brazil, in which the winger set the record for most successful dribbles completed in a World Cup since 1966, completing 10 out of the 10 he attempted.

The semi-finals against France proved a step too far but Hazard and the Red Devils bounced back to secure third place, defeating England 2-0 in the third-place playoff.

eden hazard kevin de bruyne belgium profile

Hazard's 82nd minute goal in that match secured his third man of the match performance and also signified his nation's best-ever World Cup finish.

His three goals, two assists and three man of the match awards could not lead Belgium to glory, but Hazard was offered some compensation, in the form of an individual accolade, as he was named the second best player of the tournament to win the Silver Ball.

More Articles