Former Real Madrid star Eden Hazard has disclosed that he rejected Cristiano Ronaldo’s shirt because he wanted to establish his own identity at the club.
In a chat with the club’s website, Hazard stated that he didn’t join Real Madrid to replace the Portuguese international.
He noted that the pressure to inherit the No. 7 was created by the media, not by him.
“Succeeding Cristiano at Real Madrid wasn’t a burden because, in my opinion, I wasn’t there to replace him. It’s the media who say, ‘he’s going to replace Ronaldo.’
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“I think I have a completely different style of play than him. I couldn’t score 60 or 70 goals a year. In fact, throughout my entire career, I barely scored that many.
“I went there to play like Eden, not to replace Ronaldo. But, as often happens, things didn’t go well. I didn’t want number 7. I wanted Luka Modric’s number 10. I thought he was going to say, ‘okay, take it,’ but he didn’t give it to me.”
The 34-year-old, who retired from football in October 2023, never lived up to expectations in Spain and is regarded as one of the club’s worst signings in modern time.
