Hiddink defends Hazard amid boos from Chelsea fans

Hiddink defends Hazard amid boos from Chelsea fans

Guus Hiddink has confirmed that Eden Hazard suffered an injury to his hip on Wednesday evening, as the winger left the field to boos from sections of the Chelsea support.

The Blues fell 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League Round of 16, which resulted in their elimination from the competition.

In a repeat scoreline of the first leg, taking the aggregate result to 4-2, Adrien Rabiot and Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted to send the Ligue 1 champions through to the quarter-finals.

Diego Costa sandwiched a goal in between those two strikes, but the centre-forward was ultimately substituted through injury, which seemed to signal the end of the Chelsea resistance, as their play faltered after that point.

Hazard was another Blues star to pick up an injury, but some fans chose to air their grievances with the winger by booing his departure from the field.

This may have been partly due to his poor performance – he created just one chance on the night, whilst continuing his run of 37 games without a goal across the Premier League and Champions League.

However, the reaction could also have been in relation to his recent comments about playing for PSG in the future, or the fact he chose to come off before the final whistle of a demoralising defeat for the second time this season.

Hiddink said the Chelsea fans “have the right” to vent their frustration, though confirmed that Hazard – who earns a
reported £200,000-per-week – did suffer an injury.

The Dutchman said, as reported by the Telegraph: “They have the right to boo whatever they think. One can always express what they are feeling.

“But [Hazard] was having a bit of a problem with his injury on his hip.”

Hazard completed 85% of his passes on the night – in line with his Champions League season average.

The Belgium international also won an impressive 5/6 take-ons, but failed to inject a meaningful spark into the game in the final third, with both of his shots on goal being comfortably saved by Kevin Trapp.

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