Eden Hazard has acknowledged that during Jose Mourinho’s terrible final season at Chelsea, their relationship fell apart.
In 2013, Mourinho made a triumphant return to Stamford Bridge, where he won his third Premier League title two years later, with Hazard leading the Blues to victory.
However, Chelsea’s title defense went horribly wrong, and with the team sitting in 16th place in December 2015, Mourinho was fired.
Speaking on John Obi Mikel’s Obi One Podcast, Hazard’s former teammate, he stated that his first two years under Mourinho could not have gone any better. However, he also disclosed that their relationship soured toward the end, as Hazard did not score a league goal until April of the 2015–16 season.
“The first two seasons were incredible,” Hazard remarked. “Recall that it was only the beginning the first year because the team was new.” Then, during Jose’s second season, we took home both the league and the League Cup.
‘Then the third season was like starting problems, we lost games and at the end the relationship went away a little bit.
‘But then I have just huge respect for him and what he did in his whole career as a manager. Now I can tell my kids that Jose Mourinho was my manager for like two-and-a-half years. Just a good story, you know.’
Hazard’s Expressions On Jose Mourinho
Mail Online states that Mourinho has built a reputation over the past 20 years for forcing his players to put in a lot of effort both on and off the ball, making his teams challenging to defeat.
However, Hazard appeared to have more freedom to express himself at Chelsea under Mourinho, who saw the Belgian winger’s potential to be a game-changer.
Hazard acknowledged that Mourinho gave him special treatment in training, but he denied that he was given complete freedom to move around the field and create opportunities in the final third.
‘Total freedom, I don’t know. But kind of freedom, yeah, yeah, yeah!’ Hazard added.
‘At the end, he knew I was on the pitch to win us games, as simple as that. He asked me to do my job. And you know with Jose if you don’t do your job he can tell you in front of everyone.
‘He gave me freedom but not like crazy. I remember him sometimes saying on the pitch in training “don’t kick Eden!” and I was like “what, why!?” But for me, it’s nice!’
Reflecting On His Seven Years
With Mourinho, Hazard claimed two major awards, but he believes he performed better as Chelsea’s manager.
Though he detested Antonio Conte’s coaching style, Hazard feels that his seven years in west London were at their peak when he was under his tutelage from 2016 to 2018.
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‘I think my best time at Chelsea was with Antonio Conte,’ he said.
Discussing Conte’s training sessions with Mikel, Hazard continued: ‘All the week training. I was going out Saturday, I need to enjoy a little bit because I know the day after is going to be back on the training ground. I have to do something, it’s my only 90 minutes I can enjoy.
‘You remember him, stopping, tactics, “no we have to do that”. Saturday was the best day for me.’
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