First England, soon the world
Chelsea star Hazard tipped to topple Ronaldo and Messi
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s monopoly over world football could soon be broken by Eden Hazard, according to pundits, after he won the PFA Player of the Year award late on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Belgian winger has scored 18 goals in all competitions for English Premier League (EPL) leaders Chelsea this season, lifting the League Cup and putting them on the verge of their fifth league title.
Former AC Milan playmaker Kaka was the last player other than Barcelona’s Messi and Real Madrid’s Ronaldo to win the Fifa World Player of the Year or Fifa Ballon d’Or, back in 2007.
But Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho recently said of his star player: “He’s a kid but he knows that he is one of the three best players in the world, he is coping with that responsibility. I’ve had lots of stars. Hopefully in every club I’ve worked I’ve had stars, but he is the humble star.”
Drawing attention
And pundits believe we won’t have to wait long to see Messi and Ronaldo’s seven-year stranglehold on world football’s top individual prize ended.
Former Newcastle United and England striker Alan Shearer told the BBC: “At 24, Hazard is only going to get better. In three or four years, I think we could be talking about the Belgian being the best player in the world — he has the potential to be that good.”
Former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder Graeme Souness wrote in his column in the Sunday Times: “He’s elusive in the way that Messi and Ronaldo are. When a defender sticks out
Obviously, there is Messi and Ronaldo, both of whom are spectacular, but I like Eden Hazard more. I like everything he does on the field. I like his behaviour, his decisiveness and love to see his progress every year.”
Zinedine Zidane | Real Madrid reserve team coach
a leg to tackle him he’s no longer there. The ball is never more than nine inches from his boot, which makes it really difficult for them to pin him down.”
Real Madrid reserve team coach Zinedine Zidane even said he preferred Hazard to Messi and Ronaldo.
“Obviously, there is Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, both of whom are spectacular, but I like Eden Hazard more,” said the former France midfielder. “I like everything he does on the field. I like his behaviour, his decisiveness and love to see his progress every year.”
Without Hazard’s 13 EPL goals this season, Chelsea would be ranked fourth in the standings, one point behind Manchester United, as opposed to being ten points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal with five games remaining, as they are now.
Winning factor
And it’s his ability to win matches that has seen Chelsea apart from the rest this season, according to Shearer.
“In the early part of the season, Chelsea were scoring goals for fun, but in the last few weeks they have become more workmanlike. Their form has dipped but their results haven’t and Hazard is one of the biggest reasons for that,” he said.
“He is the one player who has consistently produced pieces of magic for them at vital times to decide tight games, like he did with his winner against Manchester United last weekend.”
Bought from French side Lille for £32 million (Dh178 million) in 2012, Hazard is now valued at £100 million by Mourinho, but despite revealing that he’s happy at Stamford Bridge amid rumoured interest from Real Madrid, the irony is that in order to beat the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, he may have to join them.
Pep Guardiola has taken the first step towards winning the treble with Bayern Munich after he collected his fifth title with the Bavarians on Sunday and his 19th as a coach.
Bayern are German league champions for the 25th time and, with four games left, captured a third-straight Bundesliga title after Moenchengladbach’s win over Wolfsburg on Sunday meant they cannot be caught.
Their 1-0 win at home to Hertha on Saturday was their 53rd win in 64 Bundesliga games with Guardiola as head coach since the 44-year-old took charge in July 2013.
“It is a huge title, the most important and the most honest,” Bayern’s director of sport Matthias Sammer told Sky.
“It was never a foregone conclusion we’d do it. The coach, his staff and the players have done amazingly well.”
Bayern have conceded just 13 league goals so far — the record is 14 — and only their nearest rivals, Wolfsburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach, have beaten them in this season’s league campaign.
Moreover, Borussia Dortmund, their main rivals in Germany over the last four seasons, were dispatched with a 2-1 win in Munich last November and a 1-0 win away earlier this month.
Long injury list
Guardiola has had to contend with a lengthy injury list in recent weeks, with stars David Alaba, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Holger Badstuber all ruled out.
Having won the Bundesliga, domestic cup, the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup during his first year in charge, the Champions League and German Cup are Guardiola’s next targets.
The Spaniard knows Bundesliga or cup titles keep Bayern fans happy, but only the Champions League quenches their relentless thirst for silverware.
“I know which club I am at, it isn’t enough to win the Bundesliga and the cup,” he has said. “Only a treble is enough for a club like Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern.”
With one more season left on his contract, Guardiola will not be short of offers if he chooses to leave Bayern in June 2016 amid reports he is set to join Manchester City then.
The ‘Philosopher’, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic dubbed Guardiola while at Barcelona, kept Bayern at the pinnacle of European football this season.
Under Guardiola, Bayern typically enjoy 75 per cent possession and the Spaniard is never afraid to switch formation or use players out of position.
Looking for treble
Bayern’s dreams of repeating their 2013 treble-winning season under his predecessor Jupp Heynckes face a stern test on Tuesday at home to Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup semi-finals.
Guardiola’s side then face the acid test at Barcelona in their Champions League semi-final on May 6, when he returns to the Camp Nou, where he won 14 titles in four years.
Guardiola won the Champions League in his first season as Barcelona coach in 2008/09 when he was aged just 38.
And his failure in last season’s semi-finals for Bayern will be redeemed if they lift a sixth European title on German soil a week after potentially winning the German Cup for the 18th time in Berlin.
It promises to be a makeor-break May for Bayern and Guardiola.