HAZARD NOW IN A WORLD OF HIS OWN

EDEN HAZARD is on a mission to fill the superstar vacuum left by the World Cup departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

The two best players in the world have already gone home after Portugal and Argentina were dumped out, but Hazard insists he will not be following suit.

The Belgium captain will lead his side out today against Japan in Rostov in the last 16 determined to prove he can not only win the World Cup but be a global icon too.

So when Hazard was asked if he could step up to the plate with Messi and Ronaldo absent, he did not hesitate.

He said: “They are not in the World Cup so now it is time to shine. I want to go through the quarter-final, semi-final and maybe the final.

“I am not the only one of course. Messi and Ronaldo, they are out now, but there are still a lot of good players at the World Cup. We will see at the end what happens.”

Hazard, so vital to Chelsea’s fortunes, is certain he is improving and getting closer to the players who have dominated the world player of the year title for a decade.

“I am a lot stronger than two years ago – or four years ago in Brazil, definitely,” he said.

“I have a lot more experience. Four years ago it was our first major competition, all of us together.

“France was our second one – and knockout matches have a lot to do with experience.

“When you have a younger team, it is more complicated even if you have good players.

“Now I think most of us are between 25 and 30, so we have the same level of maturity and I think this will make the difference.

“We have top players. We play as a group, all together, it is not just one or two players, we have 23 players. It’s in our hands.” Hazard also heaped praise on his team-mate Romelu Lukaku, who has scored four goals in Russia.

“We are very lucky to have Lukaku with us because he doesn’t need much to score,”he said.

“Maybe a few years ago he needed more, but not now. This is why he is one of the top, top players. If he has three scoring opportunities, he scores two goals most of the time. He is much better than a few years ago.

Hazard (below, scoring against Tunisia) is careful not to underestimate underdogs Japan. Belgium are huge favourites, but remember only too well losing to Wales at Euro 2016.

He added: “We are much better off than two years ago because then we had injuries just before the match as well.

“Now is another tournament against another team. Japan is totally different from Wales. We will take this match as seriously as possible.”