It
was around 4.30pm on a Saturday afternoon in November 2007 when a game at
the Stade Marcel Picot was slipping away from Lille.
Nancy had just scored a second and so, with just 12 minutes to play, a
manager with a reputation for giving young players a chance decided to roll
the dice. Taking off Kevin Mirallas, and, in his place, handing a talented
16-year-old his professional debut.
Lille lost 2-0. But the teenager was Eden Hazard and, a decade on from the
day his debut ended in defeat, we now know something spectacular had
started.
"At the end the manager told me, 'Unfortunately we lost the game but today
is a special day for you'. I was proud," says the now 26-year-old Hazard,
recalling his breakthrough from the no-expense-spared surrounds of Chelsea's
Cobham training ground.
"For me it was just a dream. I left Belgium at 14, two years later I made my
debut for Lille. For me that was normal because in my head I knew I could
play for Lille one day. I just enjoyed my time. Now, 10 years on, I am just
happy with what I did."
The manager who rolled the dice is also a name we're now familiar with in
the Premier League.
"It was Claude Puel," says Hazard with unmistakable enthusiasm. "He was
fantastic, one of the best. He gives chances to young players.
"Sometimes now in football, managers are scared to use young players. He did
well, not just with me, but with a lot of players. For young players, he is
a good manager."
Five years after his debut, Hazard faced Nancy again, scoring his first
professional hat-trick in what proved to be his final game for Lille. In
between the two matches he was named Ligue 1's Player of the Year on two
occasions and inspired Lille to a League and Cup double.
Established as one of Europe's elite young players, Hazard could have gone
anywhere. He chose Chelsea and, after a year under Roberto Di Matteo and
Rafael Benitez, Jose Mourinho returned as manager.
"When Jose came he tried to make me one of the best players in England and I
think he put this in my mind, that it was possible," Hazard added. "I
started to realise that if I'm playing well in every game I could be one of
the best."
But when you meet Hazard you realise that is where he and Mourinho differ.
Sure that he could be the best, Mourinho always wanted more from his star
player.
In truth, so did some of his coaches and team-mates in his early days at
Lille. Even Hazard's father hoped the Portuguese manager could give his son
'a little more ego'.
That's not Hazard though. He loves playing football and enjoys his family,
often bringing his three sons to the training ground at Chelsea.
But he's not relentlessly driven to be the best. In fact, even though he's
one of the few people of the planet with at least a chance of one day being
the best player in the world, it doesn't really interest him.
"I am more about enjoying the game," he said. "I try to be the best, if I am
not it is not a problem for me. I just want to enjoy being on the pitch. I
know sometimes in football you have tough moments so I try to stay on the
same level. It's not in my mind to be the best.
"I feel now football is more about statistics, about scoring goals, making
assists. That's why people want to see me scoring more goals. On the pitch,
people think I'm good but when we win 1-0 or 2-0 they want to see Eden
scoring two goals, Eden making one goal and creating an assist.
"People think about statistics every time but in my head if I am not scoring
goals it is not a problem as long as we are winning."
Player of the Year in Mourinho's final title-winning campaign at Stamford
Bridge, Hazard's form then deserted him as the Portuguese was sacked amid
rumours the relationship between the manager and his players had soured the
following season.
"I don't know why," says Hazard when I ask about the dip in form he suffered
as Chelsea unravelled. "I think every player - maybe managers and staff - we
have a responsibility in this bad period.
"As a player I try to forget, I live in the present. It was a bad year for
us with Jose, I was feeling bad for him but football sometimes is like this.
You need to keep playing and smiling and then the year after we won again."
Now though, they look like a side in the midst of another dip. Hazard admits
there are similarities.
"It is similar because the year before we won the title and then it is
different, it is a little more complicated," he revealed, before dismissing
rumours of player discontent.
"We just want to play, to be happy on the pitch. I don't see people sad in
training. We are all happy, we just want to win games.
"In football when you win games you are happy. Sometimes in bad moments you
lose games - people can be a little bit sad but we are professionals. We
have the experience from two years ago so now we want to be better."
Now, on Nissan Super Sunday, Hazard and his team-mates prepare to face their
former manager and they know Mourinho will arrive at Stamford Bridge with a
plan not just beat Chelsea but to stifle him.
"I don't know their strategy but I remember last year at Old Trafford, so
maybe yes [Mourinho will have a plan for me]," Hazard said. "But if that
happens I need to find a solution to shine.
"Last year at Old Trafford I didn't find it so I hope we can find it - not
just me but our 11 players - so we can win this game."
After a decade, almost all of it at the top of the game, Hazard is still
only 26. There's still so much to come, or is there? His answer to what's
next also reveals a man whose thirst is for life and not just for football.
He said: "I don't know, we will see. I live in the present so for the moment
I feel good, my body feels good. I am happy with what I'm doing, I will see.
"I don't want to say I will play until I'm 36, I just want to be happy on
the pitch and if I stop at 31 or 32 that's no problem. I'm only 26 so I have
time to think about this."
Maybe he'll never be the very best, maybe we won't get to enjoy him for
another decade. But at this very moment, Eden Hazard has what it takes to
destroy Manchester United on Sunday. And Jose Mourinho knows it.
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