Eden Hazard has dropped a bombshell by claiming that Cristiano Ronaldo was ‘no better’ than himself when it came to skill on the pitch.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
The Belgian icon announced his retirement from professional football in October 2023, bringing down the curtain on a 16-year senior career.
The 33-year-old struggled with injury during the final years of his career and the sensational move he made to Real Madrid from Chelsea in 2019 never really bore fruit.
Hazard made just 76 appearances in four seasons in La Liga with the move overwhelmingly becoming one of disappointed expectations.
But during his heyday he was one of Chelsea’s and the Premier League’s biggest stars.
He helped the Blues to two Premier League titles, one FA Cup triumph, a Carabao Cup win and two Europa Leagues.
He also picked up a plethora of individual accolades, including the PFA Player of the Year, the PFA Young Player of the Year award – and he appeared in four PFA Team of the Years.
On the international stage, he captained Belgium’s ‘Golden Generation’, their best result seeing them come third at the 2018 World Cup.
Despite the unfortunate spell at Real Madrid, he still enjoyed a career which saw him make 126 appearances for his country and 635 senior club appearances.
Most read in Football
However, for all his achievements, it has been questioned whether Hazard was on the same level as the likes of Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
And while the Belgian agrees that Messi certainly deserves the wide acclaim that he gets, he was not quite sure that Ronaldo outranked him in the same way.
In an interview with L’Equipe, Hazard was asked to weigh in on the eternal debate which pits the Argentinian superstar against the Portugese icon – and to offer an opinion on how he measured up himself.
Hazard did not question Messi’s quality or status in the game.
But he did think Ronaldo was on his own level when it came to ‘pure football’
“Individually, Messi is perhaps the only one,” he said.
“I loved watching the Barcelona player, less so at the end, but he’s the greatest in history.
“It’s impossible to take the ball away from him. Cristiano is a bigger player than me but, in terms of pure football, I honestly don’t think so.
Lionel Messi? Cristiano Ronaldo? Dani Alves? Who are the top ten players who have won the most trophies ever?
“Neymar, maybe. After that, he’s no better than me, but at Real, you’ve got the best, also in terms of their careers: [Karim] Benzema, [Luka] Modric, they were the best, [Toni] Kroos, Kevin [De Bruyne], they all exude football.”
Back in 2021, Hazard’s Chelsea teammate John Obi Mikel reflected on the Belgian’s quality in an interview with The Athletic where he admitted just how good the winger could have been.
“(Hazard) was just behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo,” said Mikel. “But it was only if he wanted to be. He was that good.
“He said it himself sometimes, ‘If I want to be as good, I can be as good.
“Not as good as Messi because he is from a different planet but I think I can get close to Ronaldo or maybe even better’.
