COMMENT: The manager's encouraging words reaped dividends with a captivating display from the attacker, although he must add more goals and cutting edge to become a modern great
By Wayne Veysey at Stamford Bridge

With his jinking feet, darting runs and sumptuous technique, Eden Hazard is the poster boy of the modern Chelsea team.

Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa have made a stunning impact since their summer arrivals but even this pivotal pair are not able to coax the faithful out of their expensive seats as often as the impish Belgian.

The home supporters were on their feet for much of this uplifting encounter against a sprightly Schalke as they roared their approval and support of Hazard, who stretched every sinew to provide the kind of imagination and end product that his manager Jose Mourinho had demanded in his ringing pre-match endorsement of the attacker.

With a new, five-year contract that will make him the best paid player in Chelsea's history on the table, can Hazard live up to his manager billing him as potentially "one of the greats of his generation"? Is he even the key player in a team splendidly refurbished this season by Costa's goals and Fabregas's vision?

Lining up on the left of the three attacking midfielders behind a rather statuesque Didier Drogba, the Belgian wizard was at the heart of Chelsea's penetrating early attacking play.

Time and again, he cut inside and slalomed past nervous defenders. This is his trademark, as his phenomenal speed from a standing start catches opponents unaware and makes it extremely difficult to contain him.



Hazard's first significant contribution came during Chelsea's dominant early spell. Collecting a loose ball and zooming into the box, he found Fabregas on his outside and the Spaniard calmly slotted in his first goal for the club.

In those early exchanges, Hazard looked like running amok. He was linking up menacingly with Fabregas, who conducted the orchestra tonight from a more advanced role ahead of Ramires and Nemanja Matic.

As outstanding players tend to, Hazard and Fabregas have forged a quick understanding. The former Arsenal man has the vision, awareness and passing range to make the most of his team-mate's gifts.

Direct, positive and prepared to take risks, they embody the new, more aesthetically pleasing Chelsea, who have been a joy to watch in the early weeks of the season.

One breathtaking counter-attack in the second half summed up their growing fusion. Fabregas released Hazard with an early ball from deep in his own half and the winger, taking the ball in his stride on the left flank, carried it forward at speed. The back-tracking Schalke defender knew what was coming - a dart inside to be followed by a shot at goal - but was powerless to stop it. Only the finish, which screamed over the bar, was missing.

It was to be the story of his night. With the score at 1-1 and Chelsea scrambling for a late winner, the Belgian had two good chances to immediately repay his manager's faith.

With eight minutes to go, the ball fell invitingly for him inside the box. He struck the ball well but it zipped narrowly over the crossbar. He should have scored.

Two minutes later, Fabregas found him unerringly at the far post. He stretched his small but stocky frame to meet the cross with another volley. The connection was solid but the shot hit goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann and was turned away for a corner. Frustration all round.

The feints, the stepovers and the dribbling at pace, complemented by a healthy scoring record, make Hazard unstoppable when on song. But Mourinho wants more than tricks and a goal every three games from a player whose target is to share a pedestal with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He wants the Chelsea talisman to buy into the team ethic and be as committed at tracking back as he is at surging forward.

He also wants him to be more prolific. Hazard's Champions League goals return stands at a rather puny two.
Player and manager have not always had an easy relationship.

When these two sides lined up in the Champions League group stages at Stamford Bridge last season, Hazard watched from the stands after being dropped for skipping training two days before the match.

Mourinho was even more incensed by Hazard’s failure to track back and help prevent Atletico Madrid to equalise and then go on to win their semi-final second leg on home soil.

Hazard claimed Chelsea were set up to counter-attack, rather to take the initiative in games, and Mourinho responded by saying: "When the comments come from a player like Eden it's normal because he's not the kind of player to sacrifice himself for the team.

"Normally you get these kind of comments from players like him, from players that can't resolve a problem like we had in the first goal. Eden is the kind of player that is not so mentally ready to look back to his left-back and to leave his life for him. I'm not happy. I speak all season and I try to improve him all season."

The rhetoric has now changed. From admonishing to encouraging.

"He was a kid always living on his natural talent, which is amazing but he was just living on that," said Mourinho. "But, from a certain moment, he started to have some tactical education, mental education. I think there's been a big improvement.

"Now we want, because his talent allows him to, to go from a top player to one of the greats of his generation. That's why we’re proud that he thinks that Chelsea is the perfect environment for him to have that evolution. That's why he wants to commit to us and why we want him to.

"He means a lot to us because he's a fantastic player. We are feeling day by day his motivation to work hard and improve. We have big hopes that he will go from the top player he is at this moment and will reach higher levels to become one of the best."

Hazard has a long way to go to emulate Messi and Ronaldo in the Champions League. He is still a work in progress, albeit a captivating one.

Nevertheless, he has the tools to be spoken of in the same breath as that record-breaking pair. He is young and, if he listens to Mourinho and his staff, will improve as his killer instinct develops and he will be on the road to living up to his coach's hype.