Eden Hazard has finally settled the bizarre debate over who the better player has been, Hazard or Mo Salah?
Over the last few years, the Belgian and the Egyptian have been compared online countless times, with some Chelsea supporters arguing that Hazard is a better player than Liverpool’s No. 11.
Liverpool fans have, of course, argued the other way, and while there are merits to both sides of the discussion, we Reds know the correct answer, as does Hazard himself.
Asked by SPORTbible, who the better player between the pair has been, Hazard said: “Mo Salah, by far.”
Eden Hazard has his say on the ‘Hazard vs Salah’ debate and believes the Liverpool star is the better player ?? pic.twitter.com/Mn0i7sMqXC
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) September 30, 2024
The former Chelsea player was then asked if he knew, when they were together at Stamford Bridge, that Salah would become the player we see today.
Hazard responded: “He was good already, you know, but that good? We played when he was playing in Basel. So we played Champions League the year before and then we were like, ‘Wow’.
“And then we bought him like, ‘Yeah, we have to. We have to buy this guy because this guy is so good’.
“And then, you know, in football you have ups and downs and then what he did with Liverpool is like, ‘Wow’.”
What the stats say
Hazard decided to retire from professional football at just 32 years old, after two years at Real Madrid in which he struggled to make an impact.
At the same age, Salah is still one of the best attackers in world football and already has nine goal contributions (goals or assists) in eight games this season.
Across their careers, the Liverpool man has come out better as a goalscorer, averaging over 0.6 goals per Premier League match as opposed to Hazard’s 0.35.
There is no doubt Hazard was an exceptionally talented footballer who had incredible potential and, at times, lived up to his billing.
However, his output simply comes nowhere close to Salah’s, even when you look at Hazard’s strength, creativity.
So far, Salah has played 269 times in the Premier League and has created 112 big chances, as well as providing 73 assists.
In comparison, across 245 appearances, Hazard managed to create 68 big chances and produce 54 assists.
We could go on with the comparisons, but there is very little sense in doing so when the Belgian has already ended the ‘debate’ that was fought almost solely online.
