During Chelsea's procession to the 2014/15 Premier League title, with Eden Hazard the most dominant player on the most dominant team in the division, Jose Mourinho would play down the strength of opposition players in team meetings by insisting that they were "no Maradona, no Messi, no Hazard".
Mourinho was not alone in comparing Hazard to some of the game's true greats when he reached his brilliant best. Unfortunately, a four-year purgatory at Real Madrid provided a sad final chapter to a playing career that the Belgian brought to an end in October 2023.
Yet, before the lost years in the Spanish capital, Hazard enjoyed a sparkling sequence of highlights during his time with Lille and Chelsea. Here are some of the best.
Prodigious start
It did not take Hazard long to show his talent on the senior stage. In just his sixth Ligue 1 appearance, the 17-year-old came off the bench to blast Lille level against Auxerre in the 88th minute.
The second-youngest scorer in the history of the club - Hazard was still living in the club's accommodation because he wasn't old enough to rent an apartment in the city on his own - took a critical view of his own performance. "I lost my first three balls," Hazard sagely reflected, "two of which led to a big counter-attack."
An unknown at the start of the 2008/09 season ended the campaign as Ligue 1's Young Player of the Year, becoming the first non-Frenchman to ever claim the award.
Double delight
When Lille won the club's first domestic double, post-Second World War rationing and the black market food trade were still in effect in France. The club would have to wait 65 years before claiming both the league title and Coupe de France in the same season again.
Hazard, given licence to roam by manager Rudi Garcia, was the spellbinding epicentre of Lille's historic achievement in 2010/11. The Belgian attempted an outrageous 205 dribbles that year, one for every 15 minutes he spent on the pitch.
Sozzled send-off at Lille
Hazard's Lille teammate Rio Mavuba provided an enlightening insight into the Belgian's preparation before his final appearance for Lille in 2012. "We decided to go have a little drink," Mavuba told The Independent.
"A little drink that dragged on somewhat. The following morning, Eden was still drunk. That evening against Nancy, not even with 30 minutes played, Eden had already bagged a hat-trick.
"The guy had not even slept, he drank for the entire night and he put away a hat-trick in 30 minutes. We all looked at each other, we told ourselves that this guy was the real deal."
Dream Chelsea debut
It took Hazard just six minutes of his Chelsea debut to show his new adoring public what they had acquired for £32m. Hazard teed up Branislav Ivanovic's opener after a signature spin 110 seconds into the contest before winning a penalty which Frank Lampard converted.
After breaking Ligue 1's single-season assist record in his final year at Lille, Hazard rapidly proved that he had brought his creativity across the Channel.
Premier League glory
The year before Chelsea robotically romped to the 2014/15 title, Mourinho publicly chastised Hazard as "not the kind of player to sacrifice himself for the team".
Yet, the fleet-footed forward put his body on the line time and again in a campaign which saw Chelsea lead the league from August all the way through to May. That year, Hazard became the first Premier League player to receive more than 100 fouls since Bolton Wanderers' Kevin Davies in 2007/08 - although Davies was just as likely to be penalised, committing 95 fouls of his own.
Despite the constant contact, Hazard managed to start all 38 Premier League games for Chelsea - a remarkable feat of durability that would seem unthinkable after his injury-riddle malaise in Madrid.
Deciding the Battle of the Bridge
For the second season on the spin, Hazard decided the Premier League title - although, the slick one-two with Diego Costa which preceded a mesmeric finish curled into the top corner against Tottenham Hotspur handed Leicester City - rather than Chelsea - the title.
Ahead of the bad-tempered contest that would be dubbed 'The Battle of the Bridge', Hazard admitted: "We - the fans, the club, the players - don't want Tottenham to win the Premier League. We hope for Leicester because they deserve to be champions."
Tormenting Arsenal in title procession
Hazard was hauled off in the second half of Arsenal's 3-0 battering of Chelsea at the start of the 2016/17 season. The defeat left Antonio Conte's new side slumped in eighth. The year before, Chelsea had finished tenth.
Yet, it was that drubbing which convinced Conte to deploy his favoured 3-4-2-1 formation, with Hazard given a free role behind Costa. The Blues romped through the rest of the campaign and effectively sealed the title with a cathartic win against Arsenal. The day was painted a distinctive shade of Hazard with a beguiling 40-yard weave through the visiting backline, bouncing Francis Coquelin to the turf before leaving Laurent Koscielny with twisted blood.
Europa League goodbye
Maurizio Sarri was much maligned throughout his single season at Chelsea but he forged the team into a fine point around Hazard. The Belgian offered so much more than cold hard numbers but enjoyed the most prolific campaign of his Premier League career in 2018/19, becoming just the second player in the 21st century to rack up at least 15 goals and as many Premier League assists.
After scoring twice and setting up another in Chelsea's 4-1 mauling of Arsenal in the 2019 Europa League final, Hazard wistfully said: "My dream was to play in the Premier League and I have done that for one of the biggest clubs."
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This article was originally published on 90min as The best moments of Eden Hazard's club career.
