Jose Mourinho has accused his star player, Eden Hazard, of being
unable to sacrifice himself fully for the team and bluntly told the
Belgium winger that he was to blame for the crucial first goal in
Chelsea's Champions League defeat by Atlético Madrid.
Hazard had appeared to criticise Mourinho's tactics immediately
after the 3-1 semi-final loss when he was quoted on French
television as saying that Chelsea "are not made to play football,
we are good on the counter-attack". Hazard also added: "Often,
I'm asked to do it all by myself and it's not easy."
"He's not the kind of player ready to sacrifice himself 100 per
cent for the team and his mates": Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho on
Eden Hazard. Photo: AP
Mourinho has since studied the transcript of the interview and,
although he is adamant that the comments were not a criticism of
his managerial style, he did deliver an extraordinarily candid
appraisal of Hazard's contribution. Pointedly, in what was a rare
and stinging critique of one of his team, Mourinho also claimed
that Hazard's remarks could be expected "from players like him".
"It's normal because he's not the kind of player ready to sacrifice
himself 100 per cent for the team and for his mates," said
Mourinho. "Eden is the kind of player who is not so mentally
ready to look back at his left-back and live his life for him.
Normally you get this kind of comment from players like him:
from players who can't resolve a problem like we had with the
first goal. If you see the first goal, you understand where the
mistake was and why we conceded.
"Against Atlético in Madrid, Willian played on the left and Ashley
Cole was protected all game. At Liverpool, André Schürrle played
on the left and a dangerous player like Glen Johnson was
completely under control.
"I just say the perfect team at the top level cannot make this kind
of mistake. Normally, if you go to half-time winning 1-0, the game
is another game because Atlético have to chase the game and we,
with stability, have conditions for more."
Mourinho dropped Hazard this season for returning late from a
trip to Belgium after he lost his passport, while his preference for
César Azpilicueta over Ashley Cole at left-back has clearly been
influenced by his reservations about Hazard's team play.
Mourinho's critique of Hazard will be of particular interest to
Paris St-Germain, who are keen to bring him back to France this
summer.
PSG, though, have just been sanctioned for breaches of Uefa's
Financial Fair Play regulations and would struggle to make such a
major signing this summer. Mourinho is also adamant that
Hazard will stay and stressed that he was not offended by the
former Lille playmaker's remarks about Chelsea's style.
"I listen to the interview," said Mourinho. "There was nothing
critical in what he said. There is nothing there." Despite agreeing
that he was "not happy" with parts of Hazard's game, Mourinho
did also highlight both his young age and considerable
development. Hazard has been Chelsea's most creative player
and, having been shortlisted for the PFA's Player of the Year
award, was named Young Player of the Year last Sunday.
"Eden's had a good season, and an improvement," said
Mourinho. "I think he was brought to a different level. Remember
the performance at Man City, which was a very complete
performance? I have no problem with him. He's a young guy. His
evolution was fine. Does he still make mistakes? Of course he
still makes mistakes. It was the first time in his life he'd played a
Champions League semi-final. It's a career that's he's just started.
Of course he understands."
Mourinho still fully expects either Manchester City or Liverpool
to win the Premier League but, at the end of what would be his
first full season in management without a trophy, he gave a
detailed defence of his record.
"I'm going to tell you something, a bit of the history of my
career," said Mourinho. "My career reached, at Inter, the
maximum you can reach when you win everything. In 2010 I won
everything. After that, this is the history of my career. In the first
season [with Real Madrid] I won the cup against the best team in
the world [Barcelona] and finished second in the league after the
best team in the world. The next season I was league champion
against the best team in the world, the champions of the records
- 100 points, 126 goals, the record team - and we won that
league.
"In the third season we won every match against the best team in
the world, in the league, the Super Cup, the Cup. We lost the
league, finished second, and we lost the Champions League semi-
final by one goal. And the fourth season, which is this one, and
probably the first where I don't win a single trophy, I go to the
Champions League semi-final and fight for the title until the last.
So these are the four bad seasons of my career."
Asked where it all went wrong, he added: "It went wrong by going
year after year like nobody else did. You arrive at a level where
finishing second is not good, losing a semi-final is not good. So
I'm proud of that. Proudly guilty of that."
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