Hazard's cheery reaction to Real Madrid's CL exit is no laughing matter for fans

Patience finally ran out with Eden Hazard on Wednesday night. Not when he was taken off a minute from the end having had almost no impact on the biggest game of the season, but about five minutes later when cameras zoomed in on him laughing it up as Real Madrid crashed out.

'He can't stay a minute more at Real Madrid!' said the presenter of Spain's late night football show El Chiringuito. Marca and AS both gave him no mark in their ratings and one columnist said: 'Zidane stubbornly insisted on making him a starter, and he repaid him with a lamentable performance.'

The paper said a system had been picked to suit him, sacrificing the attacking potential of Vinicius who was shifted to wing-back, and in return Hazard produced 'a thousand touches back towards his own goal'.

It continued: 'He crowned it all by joking with his former team-mates from Chelsea with a smile that was like a punch in the chest for all "Madridismo".'

Marca also gave him zero marks and on Thursday morning said: 'The images of him laughing with the Chelsea players are what really hurt Real Madrid supporters, above all because he had shown so little signs of life on the pitch during the game.'

For supporters of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, this was a chance to laugh and rub some salt into Madrid's wounds. One Barcelona journalist tweeted a picture of the Chelsea team celebrating in their dressing room after the game and captioned it: 'All that's missing is Hazard'.

And one Atletico Madrid supporting account 'Torren' with close to 300k followers wrote: 'Imagine signing a star player who is meant to make everyone forget about Cristiano Ronaldo and he turns up fat and he cracks up laughing when the team has just gone of out the Champions League after spending the whole season injured and disappeared. He is one of ours.' The same account suggested he now be referred to as 'HahahaHazard'.

The laugh is on Madrid who having spent around £100m on a player who has since started just 21 league games in two seasons and whose value has gone through the floor.

Jorge Valdano said last night in post-match analysis: 'The reality is the that problem was identified a long time ago: a lack of goals. Benzema needed a partner.'

Hazard was supposed to be that sidekick for Benzema. He got 21 goals in his last season for Chelsea, he has five in two years for Madrid. It's no laughing matter.