Eden Hazard vs Mohamed Salah and other rivalries in football

Eden Hazard has blessed European football with his pure football art over the years. Lets have a look at some of his famous matchups.

Eden Hazard in action, Image credit: Twitter
By annirudh bhalla | May 6, 2022 | 4 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

A truly world class talent, Eden Hazard has blessed European football with his pure football art over the years and also has mesmerizing skills. The former Chelsea star, widely known for his dribbling, vision and creativity has produced stunning figures and consistency for most part of the last decade. As it usually does, talent has been accompanied by continued comparisons and correlations with several contemporary footballers and same has been the case with Hazard.

Career Achievements

Hazard has enjoyed a decorated career having won league titles in England, Spain and France while also being awarded with Best Player Awards in the Premier League and Ligue 1. No wonder, the Belgian has enjoyed massive fan-following and is idolized by many upcoming footballers. However, many of his managers including Jose Mourinho have criticised him for not utilizing the potential he has. Nonetheless, Hazard’s ability and prowess has allowed Hazard to have some particularly potent rivals over the years. Let’s have a look at some of them.

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Eden Hazard vs Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah has been constantly compared to Eden Hazard especially since the Egyptian moved to Liverpool in 2017. The pair have been subject to constant comparison especially because of the fact that Salah was allowed to leave Chelsea in 2015 while Eden Hazard became the main man at Stamford Bridge. Until 2019, while Hazard was still in the Premier League, both the stars were the face of the Premier League and hence were the topic of constant debates as to who is the better player.

Playing styles

Mohamed Salah is considerably ahead when it comes to the end product but that has to do with the high attacking system that Salah plays in Liverpool. Hazard beats Salah in every other department ranging from creativity to passing. Ever since Hazard’s move to Real Madrid, there has been no doubt as to who has enjoyed the better period with Hazard constantly struggling with injuries and lack of gametime while the Egyptian has carried on his great form with Liverpool.

Eden Hazard vs Alexis Sanchez

While in England, there were few left wingers who could catch up with the level of Eden Hazard. But one such individual was Chile’s Alexis Sanchez. Sanchez’s five-year Arsenal career was splendid and while he couldn’t keep up the consistency after leaving Arsenal, his prime can be compared to that of Eden Hazard’s. Being the star players of London rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal, their rivalry was ignited even further and there were constant debates as to who was better among the two with none being more than in the 2014/15 season when both enjoyed stellar campaigns.

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A statistical comparison

Sanchez scored 16 goals as compared to Hazard’s 14 that season in the Premier League which indicates Sanchez clearly stands out when it comes to the end-result statistics but Hazard fared more well in the creativity and dribbling arena. Overall, Hazard had a slightly better campaign which reflected in Chelsea winning the Premier League in 2015 and Eden Hazard being the named the Player of the Season. Although later on both the players couldn’t rekindle the same spark that their rivalry enjoyed in 2015, their fierce competition still makes the list of the most exciting matchups in Premier League history.

Eden Hazard vs Neymar

With both Eden Hazard and Neymar Jr. being roughly the same age, no one can forget the rivalry that these two superstars of the game were subject to five years ago. With notable similarities in their game and playing style, both the players were adjudged as the future best players in their prime days. It was a real question to answer as to who between the two was the better player. While Neymar clearly was ahead of the Belgian when it came to end-product, Hazard’s case was supported by the fact that he had played most of his career under defensive managers like Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri.

Face-off on the biggest stage

Their rivalry was tested to the full at the 2018 World Cup at the quarter finals stage. The stage was set between Brazil and Belgium for a place in the semifinals of the greatest event in football. Belgium advanced with Hazard producing one of the best performances in that World Cup having completed a phenomenal ten dribbles. Neymar on the other hand could only wonder what could have been having suffered another disappointment with his country.





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