“The idol of a generation” - Real Madrid midfielder salutes Eden Hazard after his retirement 

Eden Hazard's ex-Real Madrid teammate Aurelien Tchouameni has reacted on Instagram to the former's retirement announcement at the age of 32.

The duo played together on eight occasions for Los Blancos without managing a joint goal contribution. On the former Chelsea forward's retirement post, Tchouameni wrote:

"The idol of a generation."

Hazard took to the social media platform on Tuesday (October 10) to share a message on his departure from professional football. After completing 76 appearances for Real Madrid, bagging seven goals and 12 assists, he wrote in his retirement post:

"I made my dream come true, play and have fun on the pitches all over Europe and the world. During my career I have met great people, managers, coaches, teammates and I wanted to thank especially the clubs I passed through: LOSC, Chelsea and Real Madrid; and obviously thank again the Belgian national team.

"Special thanks to my family, friends, advisors and people who have been close to me in good and bad times. Finally, a huge thank you to you, my fans, who have been following me all these years, for your encouragement in each country I played."

The former Belgium international will be fondly remembered for his time at Chelsea. He completed a stunning 352 appearances for the west London outfit, scoring 110 goals and assisting 92.

Hazard won the Premier League and Europa League twice each while getting his hands on the FA Cup once during his stay at Stamford Bridge between 2012 and 2019.

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Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold calls ex-Real Madrid star Eden Hazard the toughest opponent he's faced

Trent Alexander-Arnold (via Getty Images)

Earlier this year, Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold said former Chelsea and Real Madrid star Eden Hazard was the toughest opponent he'd faced so far in his career.

The two played against each other thrice when Hazard represented the Blues during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. Responding to a question about his hardest opponent, Alexander-Arnold said in January this year (via TBR):

"Toughest opponent I’ve ever faced? Eden Hazard. Speed, agility, awareness, his intelligence on and off the ball is just unreal."

Hazard will go down in the eyes of many as one of the best-ever Premier League wingers of his generation. He moved to Chelsea in 2012 from Lille on a £32 million deal.

After scoring 85 goals and providing 61 assists from 245 Premier League appearances, Hazard joined Real Madrid for €115 million in the summer of 2019.