Jose Mourinho's strange prediction about Eden Hazard in 2015 come to pass

• Eden Hazard is set to be on the sidelines once again in his latest injury setback
• The Belgian will undergo a minor surgery on his right leg to remove a plate
• Interestingly, his plight was inadvertently predicted by the 31-year old’s former manager Jose Mourinho back in 2015

Eden Hazard’s current plight was eerily predicted by his former manager Jose Mourinho, who made some interesting sentiments in 2015 which now seem to be coming true.

Hazard’s time as a Real Madrid player has been hampered by constant injuries, and more recently, the Belgian picked up his 16th injury.

He is set to undergo surgery on his right leg to remove a plate, and will consequently miss Real Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Chelsea.

Interestingly, Hazard’s current woes will presumably not come as much of a surprise to one man, Jose Mourinho.

In 2015, while still in charge of Chelsea, Mourinho did what is now a very significant press conference where he spoke on Hazard’s physical well-being.

Ranking the best Spurs players of all time and more fun facts

Football

According to the Portuguese at the time, Hazard was being subjected to too many fouls as a football player and possibly needed protection from the referees.

“Punished by opponents”

During the press conference in 2015, Mourinho said:

People [are] in love with football in this country - people must be in love with Eden Hazard.

"The way, match after match, he's being punished by opponents and he's not being protected by referees, maybe one day we won't have Eden Hazard.

"They kick and kick and kick, and the kid resists. He's a very honest guy in the way he plays, but that's another problem."

In 2016, incredible stats showed that Hazard as the most fouled player in the Premier League.

Years on and with age catching up with the 31-year old, it seems the knocks he used to get in his youthful days are taking a toll on Hazard.

A quite disheartening stat is Hazard has the same number of injuries as he does goals for Real Madrid.