Jose Mourinho was quick to dismiss comparisons of Eden Hazard to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi following the Belgian’swonderful hat trick against Newcastle United on Saturday. Hazard scored all three goals as Chelsea cruised to a 3-0 win, emerging at the end of the weekend at the top of the Premier League standings,after Arsenal was hammered 5-1 by Liverpool and Manchester City could only draw 0-0 at Norwich.
“He’s the best young player in the world. I don’t want to compare him with the ‘monsters,’because they have 10 years of career, winning trophies, scoring goals, and it’s not fair on them or the kid to make that comparison,” Mourinho said, referring to Ronaldo and Messi. “But Idon’t see a better young player.”
The Portuguese also noted that Hazard, who has 12 EPL goals so far this season, is starting to stand out for his professionalism just like Ronaldo and Messi.Aside from missing one practice session when he misplaced his passport on a quick trip to France (and for which he was dropped against Schalke in the UEFA Champions League), “[Hazard] hasunderstood the levels of professionalism I demand from my players. The kid is a good kid. He’s a married man, he has sons, he’s a family boy, he’s a guy with a fantastic life. Not many players his agehave the kind of family life he has. Many of the young talented boys, they are still a bit … you know. The kid is a nice guy.”