Six stars that played for Chelsea and Real Madrid ahead of Hazard reunion

Eden Hazard is gearing up for an emotional reunion with Chelsea as Real Madrid prepare to face Thomas Tuchel’s side in the Champions League semi-finals.

Los Blancos are hosting the Blues in the first leg of their last-four showdown on Tuesday night, with a potential final against Paris St-Germain or Manchester City up for grabs.

Hazard, who is fit again after recovering from injury, will be lining up against his former club for the first time since departing for the Bernabeu in 2019.

And ahead of the reunion, we’ve picked out three of the best and three of the worst players who have represented both Chelsea and Madrid over the years.

Best

Eden Hazard

Starting with the man himself, Hazard was regarded by many as the best player in the Premier League by the time he swapped London for Madrid in the summer of 2019.

His tally of 110 goals in 352 games for Chelsea, and return of two Premier League titles, one League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League, means he goes down as a club icon.

The majority of the Belgian’s time in Madrid has been plagued by injury, but his legendary stint at Stamford Bridge earns him a place in this category.

Claude Makelele

It’s fair to say you have to be a pretty special player to have an entire position named after you.

Well, throughout successful stints with both Madrid and Chelsea that’s exactly what Makelele achieved, making the midfield-anchor role just in front of the defence his own.

He proved instrumental in two La Liga wins and a Champions League triumph with Los Blancos before heading to Chelsea and adding two Premier League titles to his collection. What a player.

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    • Ricardo Carvalho

    In his superb six-year spell at the Bridge Carvalho developed a formidable partnership at the heart of Chelsea’s backline with John Terry, helping Jose Mourinho’s champions set the record for the lowest number of goals conceded in a 38-game league campaign (15 conceded in 2004/05).

    Many believe Terry and Carvalho’s partnership was the greatest in Premier League history.

    After winning three Premier League titles in west London he eventually reunited with Mourinho at the Bernabeu, although at the age of 32 he was forced to play more of a bit-part role before leaving to join Monaco in 2013.

    Worst

    Lassana Diarra

    The French midfielder showed glimpses of quality after earning a move to Chelsea in 2005, with Jose Mourinho even using him as a makeshift right-back in their 2007 League Cup final win over Arsenal.

    However, having generally failed to convince Mourinho that he was any more than a useful squad player Diarra was allowed to join Arsenal in 2007, 18 months before he sealed a shock move to Madrid from Portsmouth.

    His time at the Bernabeu was fairly successful, racking up 117 appearances and winning La Liga before leaving for Russian outfit Anzhi Makhachkala in 2012, but he’s certainly not the greatest player to have pulled on both shirts.

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    Alvaro Morata

    A product of Madrid’s academy, Morata emerged from the Castilla side in 2012 and got off to a respectable start in the senior ranks, netting 11 goals in 52 games before enjoying a two-year loan spell at Juventus.

    After famously netting the winner against Madrid in the 2015 Champions League semi-finals, he returned in 2016 and bagged 20 goals in 43 games.

    Chelsea then came calling in 2017, forking out a club-record £60million to prise him away from the Bernabeu, but a miserable return of 24 goals in 72 games meant that price was not at all justified, and he was eventually offloaded to Atletico Madrid two years later.

    • Five greatest Eden Hazard goals in Premier League for Chelsea ahead of crunch reunion

    Samuel Eto’o

    This is perhaps harsh given he enjoyed great success elsewhere, not to mention he didn't join Chelsea until the back end of his career, but Eto’o’s brief stints at both clubs means he makes it into this category.

    The Cameroon striker was another product of Madrid’s academy, however after featuring just seven times for the first team he was sold permanently to Mallorca in 2000.

    Of course, he went on to win four major league titles and three Champions League crowns with Barcelona and Inter Milan before enjoying a 12-month spell at Stamford Bridge in 2013, which saw him chip in with nine goals as the Blues narrowly missed out on the Premier League title.

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