Chelsea legend Eden Hazard was happy to end the debate of who is best between himself and Mohamed Salah – but he believes he was better than Cristiano Ronaldo
Eden Hazard riled up Real Madrid fans when he claimed he was a better ‘pure footballer’ than Cristiano Ronaldo.
But the Chelsea icon settled a debate that often rages among Premier League supporters when he accepted Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah is in a different class to him “by far”.
Hazard was brought to the Bernabeu from Stamford Bridge for £130m, making him one of the most expensive footballers of all time. However, his time with Los Blancos was fairly dreary.
Injuries and poor performances covered his four-year tenure in Spain. And while this was happening, Ronaldo was breaking every record imaginable with Madrid.
The Belgian winger, who turned 34 on January 7, retired from football last year following the expiration of his contract with Real. Ronaldo on the other hand, who will turn 40 next month, is still playing as the face of football in Saudi Arabia. Despite this, Hazard persists he has something over Ronaldo.
In a interview with French newspaper L’Equipe, Hazard was quoted saying: “Cristiano is a greater player than me but, in terms of pure football, honestly, I don’t think so.”
It’s a major claim considering Cristiano is widely considered by many to be the best footballer to have ever existed – pure or not. At the very least, debates concerning this generation’s best player centre around Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, with the Argentinian World Cup-winner seen by many as the victor.
Hazard’s comment regarding purity is perhaps in reference to individual entertainment value over title success and silverware. Ronaldo is a five-time Ballon d’Or winner – only Messi (eight) has more – who has won seven crowns in the top flights of English, Spanish and Italian football, while Hazard has won only four.
Although many fans thought Hazard’s ego was over-the-top and he believed no one was above him, that wasn’t the case. In an interview with SPORTbible, he admitted who was better between himself and Salah.
“Mo Salah, by far… He was good already [before joining Chelsea], you know, but that good? We played when he was playing in Basel. So we played Champions League the year before and then we were like, ‘Wow.’
“And then we bought him like, ‘Yeah, we have to. We have to buy this guy because this guy is so good. And then, you know, in football you have ups and downs and then what he did with Liverpool is like, ‘Wow’.”
Hazard’s 202 direct goal involvements in 352 outings for Chelsea are nothing to be sniffed at, and the maestro helped the club usher in an era of success across his seven seasons in west London.