“I’m signing for the champion’s league winner.” That’s what a certain Eden Hazard tweeted on the 28th of May 2012, just 9 days after Chelsea FC had won the Champions League title, beating Bayern Munich in their own backyard.
The rest, as many already know, turned out to be history.
The young Belgian wizard signed from Lille for a fee worth up to £32 million.
Through his breathtaking, paintbrush-like feet and priceless impact on numerous occasions during his considerable 7-year period at Stamford Bridge, he helped the club win 2 Premier League titles, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, and 2 Europa Leagues. Hazard also scored 110 goals in 352 appearances.
In honour of his 34th birthday, celebrated on the 7th of January, let’s wind the clock back and delve into the seas of nostalgia in order to make a subjective ranking of his best 5 goals for Chelsea, based on both aesthetics and importance.
5 – A thunderbolt against Sparta Prague
After a fluctuating first half of the season, which had involved the replacement of fan-favourite Roberto Di Matteo with the highly unpopular Rafael Benítez, Chelsea would face Sparta Prague in the first knockout round of their Europa League campaign, having got there due to finishing third in their Champions League group.
After a positive, but far from comfortable 0-1 win away in the Czech capital, the Blues were shocked by the visitors in the return leg as early as the 17th minute. And as it seemed a certain bet that the extra time would be needed to decide the tie-winner, Hazard worked his magic in a splendid fashion.
Having come off the bench to replace Oscar, and with one minute from injury time remaining, he unleashed a rocket of a strike from a relatively tight angle, which ended up just under Tomas Vaclik’s crossbar. The relief was evident, and Chelsea had gone through.
4 – Eight in a row at the Etihad
Certainly not the most aesthetically pleasing goal, but a very important one for a host of reasons.
The first encounter between Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte could not have been more momentous and fiery. The Cityzens were rewarded for their on-the-ball persistence throughout the majority of the first half, as the experienced centre-back Gary Cahill bizarrely turned a Jesus Navas’ cross into his own net right before the break.
Chelsea FC did not give in, though. After another surge of the home side in the first ten minutes or so post-restart, a Pedro-out-Willian-in substitution paid dividends for Antonio Conte and his charges, with Diego Costa and the aforementioned right-winger turning the game on Chelsea’s head in quick succession.
In the final minute of normal time, Eden collected a long pass from Marcos Alonso, used his pace perfectly to leave Aleksandar Kolarov behind himself, and demonstrated exemplary composure to score the third goal of his team, past a hopelessly dejected Claudio Bravo.
Chelsea had managed to secure a victory as valuable as gold, in every spectrum of perspective. 8 wins on the spin, in absolute contention for the title.
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3 – Hot knife through butter aka Eden versus West Ham United
One of the most difficult and stunning executions a football player can both principally and practically materialise, Hazard’s paintbrushes knew no limit to the artistic product they could generate.
In April 2019, Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea played Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham United at Stamford Bridge. 3 points would be vital in the quest for a Top 4 place, and Hazard duly fulfilled his task, scoring the brace that would win The Blues the game against their London rivals.
But the first of the two goals was simply majestic. Having collected a short, straightforward pass in the middle of the park from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the Belgian went through a number of opponents in lightning speed before slotting the ball past Lukasz Fabianski, who could do nothing to stop that unique exhibit of pure individual brilliance.
2 – Magic of the cup? Rather magic IN the cup.
Remaining in the 2018-2019 season, but turning back in time around 6 months earlier than the West Ham game.
Despite it being the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup, Liverpool and Chelsea had been drawn against each other. The Blues ended up winning the game 1-2, but one individual had been in the limelight of the night.
With his team in need of an equaliser, trailing 1-0 due to a Daniel Sturridge goal in front of the Kop, Hazard managed to burst past Alberto Moreno, former Liverpool left-back, from a wide position and hit an unstoppable shot past Simon Mignolet.
The goal was so brilliant that the plaudits were huge from either party. Gianfranco Zola, Chelsea’s assistant head coach at the time, called Eden “a remarkable player.”
Jamie Carragher, former Liverpool defender, didn’t hesitate to call him “the best player in the Premier League,” just as the Belgian had started celebrating his glorious work of art.
1 – Another significant step towards the title
The 4th of February 2017. It seemed like the fates of Chelsea’s and Arsenal’s seasons had almost turned upside down from the day they faced one another in the reverse fixture at the Emirates.
The 3-0 first-half humbling back in September had incentivised Antonio Conte to change to a back 3 system for the second 45 minutes of the encounter and beyond. It worked as smoothly as it gets.
So, when the arch-rivals faced off again some months later, the West Londoners had made quite a bit of progress in their title quest, while Arsenal were in the doldrums. To compound their misery, Arsène Wenger would be in the stands at Stamford Bridge that day, as a result of a suspension.
In the 53rd minute of the game, Hazard scored a mind-blowing solo goal. It had it all, without the slightest exaggeration. The move started from inside his own half, and after initially dribbling Laurent Koscielny, he physically got the better of Francis Coquelin, who desperately tried to stop him from going forward.
Through his dizzying trickery and composure, he managed to push the opposition rearguard further behind before intelligently scoring past former teammate, Petr Čech.
A package of skill, strength, intelligence, and efficiency, all in a single goal. As a consequence, Chelsea doubled their advantage, before Cesc Fabregas and Olivier Giroud added one each for their respective teams, settling the final score at 3-1.
Conclusion
It has been 6 years since Hazard inevitably swapped West London for Madrid, a notorious switch remembered a lot more for his prolonged spells away from the pitch than his in-game contributions.
However, at Chelsea, he possesses the same legacy, the same popularity status, if not a stronger one than before.
Fans all over the world have fond memories of his time defending their club’s colours, feeling appropriately fortunate for having been privileged with the luxury of enjoying his intoxicating mix of glamour and effectiveness for 7 years in a row and a handful of trophies won during that time.