Eden Hazard happy being compared to world's best

By Richard Cooke

Image: Eden Hazard celebrates his memorable winner for Chelsea against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup

Eden Hazard admits it feels good to be compared to the world's best players but insists he is more concerned with winning trophies.

Hazard has scored five goals in Chelsea's opening six Premier League games as they have picked up 16 points from a possible 18 so far, and he added a stunning late winner in Wednesday's 2-1 Carabao Cup third round victory at Liverpool.

Chelsea assistant boss Gianfranco Zola said that goal, which Hazard has described as "special", served as proof the 27-year-old is one of the world's finest players.

Highlights: Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea

When Blues midfielder Ross Barkley was asked about Hazard and the level of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, he said he believed his team-mate was currently the best in the world - a view also expressed by former Chelsea captain John Terry on Instagram.

When he was asked how he felt about comments like that, Hazard said: "It is good. I try to do what I can do when I am on the pitch. I am the same player as two years ago, three years ago.

Advertisement

"At the moment, I am just scoring goals, so that is why everyone is talking for me to be in the top three. It is a pleasure to be there. I just want to keep going."

Chelsea assistant boss Gianfranco Zola believes Hazard is one of the best players in the world

While Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri recently said he thought Hazard could score 40 goals for the club this season, the former Lille player says he does not have goal targets.

Also See:

He added: "My target is to win something every year, I want to win trophies.

"We won the FA Cup last year. We knew the Premier League is going to be hard because (Manchester) City, Liverpool, they have a lot of good players and good teams. So we will give everything.

"It is not important how many goals I score. You know me, I don't care about that. I just want to enjoy my football and win games."

Live Renault Super Sunday

Having inflicted their first defeat of the season, Chelsea will now look to halt table-topping Liverpool's 100 per cent start in the league on Saturday when the two clubs meet again at Stamford Bridge.

Hazard said: "The cup game was important for Saturday I think. After the draw against West Ham [last Sunday] we are back on top, we won against one of the best in the world at the moment, so Saturday we are going to be ready for the game."

Play Super 6

Jeff gave away £1.5m last month. Enter your predictions to be the next winner here.

Outbrain