Why Eden Hazard must prove himself on the Champions League stage

Eden Hazard

Rewinding to the end of last season, Juan Mata was proudly parading his second Chelsea Player of the Season trophy in as many seasons. However, this season has been one of mixed emotions for the little Spaniard. For one reason or another he has not been involved as heavily as he, or the Chelsea fans, would have liked and he has been firmly overshadowed by the Blues’ little Belgian sensation Eden Hazard.

Only David Silva, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone and surprisingly Stewart Downing, have made more key passes than Hazard this season in the Premier League, and he has also scored three goals – second to only Oscar, Mourinho’s preferred no. 10, in the Chelsea squad.

Premier League key pass rankings

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There are few things that the little playmaker can’t do – not only has he hit the target with 62% of his strikes this term in the league, but has also proved his worth at tracking back, completing 9 out of 12 of his tackles so far.

One side who will know exactly how effective the former Anderlecht man can be is Schalke, who Chelsea host on Wednesday. Not only did Hazard complete 92% of his passes against the Bundesliga side in their recent Champions League encounter, but he also wrapped up the scoring with a fine strike in the closing stages.

His tendency to exploit the wide areas before cutting inside when in the opposition’s danger areas can be seen on his heat map from the 3-0 victory over Jen Keller’s men, and although he is usually deployed down the flanks, 79% of the opportunities that he has created have come from the central areas. And that ties in with the goals that Schalke have conceded this season in the Premier League – only three of their goals against have been from a wider position that the 6-yard box.

Hazard has the quick feet, the ball control and the range of tricks and flicks to make Benedikt Howedes’ life extremely difficult on Wednesday evening, but he may have a tougher time breaking down Joel Matip, who is quicker on his feet than Howedes, and who can handle the agile forwards more effectively.

Both Schalke full-backs are also relatively limber and are able to go up against nippy attackers, with Dennis Aogo winning 22 of his 23 tackles this season, and Asuto Uchida 28 out of 33 in the German topflight, so it promises to be an intriguing battle and will be exciting to establish where Hazard gets the most joy.

Hazard has sparkled again this season and that’s likely to continue under the guidance of Mourinho as he remains one of the first names on the team sheet, but whether or not he can transform his form into Europe on a regular basis is something which will come to light after the next few games.

He has appeared only twice in the Champions League this season and made one key pass and will be gunning for his German opponents tomorrow evening in order to show people that he is able to dictate games against Europe’s elite, and not only those in the English leagues.