Eden Hazard joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 as a marquee transfer valued at around 100 million euros. The Belgian signed a five-year contract with the club after leaving Chelsea. However, his stint in Madrid did not live up to expectations. In a recent interview with French Canal+, Hazard shared intriguing details from that period, including a story about the jersey number he did not want.

Hazard revealed that upon joining the club, he was forced to wear the number seven jersey, previously worn by Cristiano Ronaldo, despite his preference. His goal was to have the number 10. "I didn't want number seven. I wanted Luka Modrić's number 10. I asked him and thought he would say 'okay, take it,' but he didn't give it to me," said Hazard with a laugh.

"I didn't come to replace Cristiano"

The Belgian emphasized that he never felt the burden of following Ronaldo. "Replacing Cristiano in Madrid never felt like a burden because, in my opinion, I didn't come to replace him," he admitted.

Hazard added that the media created a narrative about him coming in as Ronaldo's replacement, despite their playing styles being entirely different. "The media said I was coming to replace Ronaldo. I think my playing style is completely different from his. I couldn't score 60 or 70 goals a year. I barely scored that many in my entire career. So, my playing style was completely different," he explained.

"I came there to play like Eden, not to replace Cristiano. But, as often happens, things didn't go well," concluded Hazard, whose career at Real Madrid was marred by a series of injuries.