Eden Hazard reveals ‘unplayable’ Lionel Messi only player more talented than himself

Eden Hazard has revealed in an interview with France Football that in terms of talent, there was only one player better than him during his career: Lionel Messi (36). 

As Hazard explained, “Messi is perhaps the only one. I enjoyed seeing him in Barcelona, less towards the end but he’s the greatest in history. He was unplayable, impossible to take the ball from him.” 

For Cristiano Ronaldo (38), Hazard was happy to admit that his former Real Madrid teammate was  “a better player than me but, in terms of pure football, honestly, I don’t think so. Neymar, maybe.” 

An end to Hazard’s playing career

Hazard has since retired from football following struggles with injuries and confidence after his move from Chelsea FC to Real Madrid, putting a close to a glittering career that had begun in Lille. 

It was at his formative club that Hazard first rose to prominence helping to lead the team to their first Ligue 1 title since the 1950s. It was enough to earn him a move to the Premier League with Chelsea where the Belgian winger became one of the greatest players of the 2010s. 

Winning two Premier Leagues across a seven-year stay with the London club, while helping Belgium to a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup earned him a move to Madrid in 2019, where unfortunately his career began to breakdown. 

This summer after an unhappy stay at Madrid fraught with recurring injuries, the winger finally called time on his playing career. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland