Eden Hazard better than Cristiano Ronaldo last season says Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho

Mourinho believes Hazard is behind only Lionel Messi in world football.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has heaped lavish praise on star player Eden Hazard claiming that the Belgian international was better than Cristiano Ronaldo last season, The Guardian reports. The Portuguese also reiterated his stance that the skillful player should be given more protection by the referees.

The Premier League are gearing up to take on Barcelona in their US pre-season tour on Tuesday and Mourinho took the opportunity to talk about Hazard in the same league as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Eden is coming with big status now and was voted one of the top-10 players in Europe last year. In my opinion, he should be in the top three not in the top 10. I think he is the best player in our country. The Premier League is the top competition in the countries, I think he is in the top players,” Mourinho said, according to The Guardian. “But he also needs a good Champions League. I’m not saying winning, but I say a proper Champions League. But he is fantastic.”

Mourinho went on to say that he feels Messi is currently the best player in the world. He said: “Messi won the treble. He won three competitions last year, he reached the Copa América final. He had a fantastic season for him and for his team,”

The Portuguese, who managed Real Madrid for three seasons before embarking on his second spell at Stamford Bridge, though rates Hazard’s season above Ronaldo’s citing the failure of his countryman to win any piece of silverware with the Spanish club last season.

“They have to win some titles, no? Football without titles is nothing,” Mourinho said, as reported by The Guardian.

“Ronaldo was fantastic. He scored an incredible number of goals. In my personal view, every football player in the world should understand that a team has to be in front. I don’t like players or managers to win individual trophies without the team,” he added.

Hazard needs protection: Mourinho

Eden Hazard was statistically the best dribbler in Europe last season

Mourinho has time and again talked about Hazard not getting enough protection from the referees in England. The Belgian was the most fouled player in the 2014/15 season of the Premier League and was subjected to some rough treatment in their pre-season friendly against New York Red Bulls.

“The reality is that last season he was lucky – let’s see what happens next season. “He could have been injured many, many times. He suffered more than a couple of very nasty tackles and that could have been in trouble,” Mourinho said, before making his thoughts clear on the matter.

“The only I thing can do is what we are doing and what Eden is doing, which is to work and work and work to be stronger and stronger. I don’t want to change his mentality or personality. I don’t want him crying or overreacting. Eden is not this guy. He’s loyal and honest and gets lots of respect from opponents because of that,” Mourinho said, according to The Guardian.

Mourinho rates Hazard as captain material

Mourinho has tipped Eden Hazard to be Chelsea skipper in future.

Mourinho confirmed that John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic would be Chelsea captains for the upcoming season, but said that Hazard has all the makings of a future Blues skipper.

“On the pitch he leads. He is not afraid to take responsibility. He is not afraid to get the team from a dark situation and bring blue sky again for the team. He is a guy with great discipline. He is not the kind of guy you see setting bad examples and so on. So I think he can,” Mourinho said, as reported by The Guardian.

“His ambition is coming, he is also the vice-captain of the Belgian national team. He has four seasons at Chelsea, so he didn’t arrive yesterday. I think he is in this group. Eden, Fàbregas, Cahill are in this group behind the captains.”