Thomas Meunier Shares Hilarious Story Of Real Madrid President’s Reaction To Him Injuring Eden Hazard

Belgium defender Thomas Meunier has shared a hilarious story about his first meeting with one of the most powerful men in football: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

Unfortunately, their meet-up came post-match, directly after the right-back's tackle had injured Eden Hazard during a 2020 Champions League match between Real and Paris Saint-Germain.

"After the game, I'm in the hall and I see Florentino Perez," explained Meunier. "I shake his hand and say 'Nice to meet you.'

"And then he answers in French: 'Nice to meet you? Do you realize you've hurt Eden Hazard? And you say to me, 'Nice to meet you?!'"

Meunier admitted he couldn't resist cracking up at this point, despite the tension of the situation, as he sought to defend himself.

"I said: 'I hurt Eden Hazard? So it's my fault he got hurt there?'

"He [Perez] said, 'Yes, yes, it's your fault!' I said, 'It's a duel like any other'... I didn't expect him to speak French, I didn't know. And he's still the president of Madrid, you see?"

It sounds like Meunier, who joined Borussia Dortmund in the summer, will not be getting the offer to come to the Bernabeu anytime soon.

However it wasn't just Perez's fury that Meunier had to deal with in the aftermath. The player had to disable social media notifications across his social media platforms as he was accused of reigniting Hazard's injury misery by irate Real Madrid fans.

Meunuer apologised immediately post-match for the tackle that caused the injury, saying: "I am honestly sad. I tried to contact him [Hazard] directly after the match, but I couldn't reach him... I cross my fingers that it is not too bad.

"If there is one player who I really don't want to injure, it's Eden."

To be fair to Meunuer, he can't really be entirely blamed for the series of injuries that have restricted Hazard to just 28 Liga games in his two seasons at Real Madrid, as the former Chelsea ace has struggled to find his best form in Spain.

Also, there's nothing to suggest any bad blood between the international teammates ahead of the start of Euro 2020.

Although let's all just assume that Perez is still absolutely fuming.

All imagery: PA Images

Topics: Florentino Perez, Eden Hazard, Real Madrid, La Liga

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

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