Eden Hazard: Benfica star among the best he’s played with | OneFootball

Eden Hazard, former Chelsea star, reminisced about the coaches who marked his career and highlighted José Mourinho - who was praised by João Malheiro - as the best coach he ever worked with. The former Belgian international, aged 35, also acknowledged having a "special relationship" with Maurizio Sarri, under whom he experienced his best season at the London club.

The ex-footballer explained that he identified with Sarri's game idea, although he admitted that the Italian coach's methods could be repetitive. "I developed a special relationship with Sarri. I think his idea of football is very close to mine. Every now and then I would tell him that the training sessions were boring, but the results proved him right, just like with Conte, who was incredible and made us repeat everything countless times," he said in an interview with 'Gazzetta dello Sport'.

It was under Sarri's command, in the 2018/19 season, that the Belgian reached his peak at Chelsea, scoring 16 goals and providing 15 assists in 37 Premier League games and winning the Europa League. Nonetheless, he revealed that he was never close to moving to Italy, despite informal contacts: "To be honest, no. Moratti praised me a lot, but I always dreamed of playing in the Premier League and for Real Madrid. As a child, I supported Milan and Galliani said he saw me in Berlusconi's Milan, but they never made a move."

He also discussed Sarri's advice to follow Cristiano Ronaldo's lifestyle, something he refused: "He told me to be like Cristiano, but I didn't want to. I never went too far, but I always wanted to be Hazard on and off the field. If my friends invited me to dinner, I wouldn't say no, and if I felt like having a glass of wine, I wouldn't deny myself. Cristiano is Cristiano, I am Hazard."

Despite the strong connection to Italian coaches, his choice for the best coach of his career fell on José Mourinho: "He is not Italian, but you know him well. Mourinho is an extraordinary communicator. The way he thinks and conveys his ideas to the players is simply incredible," he concluded.

José Mourinho euphoric after Trubin's goal:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.