The World Cup has just flown by and we have already found the final 8. One of the teams that could not even get it out of the group stages though is Belgium. It came as a surprise to many and a sad end for their ‘Golden Generation’, who did not win a single trophy despite having arguably the most talented team on the planet for the good part of a decade. Their elimination has also led to the international retirement of Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard.
Hazard was the captain of the Belgian national team at the World Cup. He failed to impress in their first two games though and was left on the bench for their all important final group stage match against Croatia.
Even with Belgium searching for a goal, it was only in the last few minutes of the game that he was brought off the bench. And those have proven to be the final few minutes of his international career as well.
Hazard has announced his retirement from international football and he put out a heartfelt farewell message on his Instagram.
Real Madrid star announces international retirement after World Cup exit
Hazard is arguably the best player to ever come out of Belgium. He had a phenomenal track record for their national team as well.
According to stats from Transfermarkt, Hazard scored 33 goals and provided 36 assists in 126 appearances for Belgium.
The last few years of his career have not gone his way though. Since moving to Real Madrid, Hazard has had to deal with one injury after another, and even when he has managed to get on the pitch, he has struggled to conjure the magic of old.
At the end of the day, it is a sad ending to what was a very good international career and peaked with a 3rd place finish at the 2018 World Cup, a tournament in which Hazard was at his very best and proved that he was one of the best players on the planet.