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Eden Hazard prepares to give it a try for the manager José Mourinho at Leicester. Moments later he had removed himself from the pitch and departed down the tunnel. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images
Eden Hazard prepares to give it a try for the manager José Mourinho at Leicester. Moments later he had removed himself from the pitch and departed down the tunnel. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Chelsea’s tumultuous season flowed from Eden Hazard’s Swansea injury

This article is more than 8 years old
David Hytner
The consequences of Eden Hazard needing treatment from Dr Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn set the tone for the volatility of José Mourinho and Chelsea’s campaign

When Eden Hazard went down injured on the opening day of the Premier League season at home to Swansea City, towards the end of stoppage time, it was the prompt for all hell to break loose.

The Chelsea winger had been fouled by Ashley Williams and the Swansea captain was booked, but José Mourinho was clearly unhappy that his player had asked for the medics, who were promptly beckoned on by the referee, Michael Oliver.

“I was sure that Eden didn’t have a serious problem,” Mourinho said. “He had a knock and was very tired.”

Had Hazard been able to continue for the final 90 seconds or so we might have been spared all that followed – chiefly, Mourinho’s eruption at Dr Eva Carneiro and the physiotherapist Jon Fearn, and the storm that ensued, which not only highlighted the manager’s anxieties but set the tone of volatility for the season.

Hazard, though, needed treatment. To Mourinho’s fury, Chelsea had to cope, briefly, with eight outfield players, after Thibaut Courtois’s earlier sending-off.

On Monday night at Leicester City, Hazard and Mourinho came full circle, as the club’s season scraped further at the bottom of the barrel. Hazard went down shortly after the midway point of the first half, following a challenge from Jamie Vardy, and this time he could not continue, even though he tried, briefly, to do so.

This time, Mourinho’s frustration was directly squared at Hazard. Vardy’s challenge did not look overly robust and when Hazard went to ground the Leicester striker gestured twice, with a dismissive flick of the hand, for him to get up. There was contact between Vardy’s leg and Hazard’s left hip and the Chelsea player landed on the hip.

When it was signalled to Mourinho that Hazard would have to come off, he reacted with a similar gesture to that of Vardy. Mourinho turned on his heels and walked back towards the bench. This was a night when he wanted warriors and what happened next made it clear that, at the time, he did not consider the Belgian to have a serious problem.

Mourinho had a short chat with him on the touchline and Hazard re-entered the fray. The manager was comfortable with him coming back on. Moments later, though, the ball came to Hazard, he winced, turned and headed straight off. It was impossible to ignore the dismissive gesture that Hazard made towards Mourinho as he departed.

The tension between the pair was laid bare in front of a global audience and if the Chelsea manager has struggled to inspire many of his players this season, the breakdown with Hazard has been arguably the most significant.

There have been times when Hazard has looked very good yet it has only been for tantalising flickers and the contrast to last season, when he was deciding games seemingly by himself, is one of the many staggering details to Chelsea’s implosion. Hazard finished last May with 19 goals and the player of the year trophies. He has yet to score this time round.

“The only thing I know [about the injury] is that in 10 seconds, he made a decision himself,” Mourinho said after the game at the King Power Stadium. “So it must be a serious injury because he just left the pitch and made a decision that he was not in condition to go on, so it must be something important.

“His first reaction was: ‘I can’t.’ And I was going to make the change. His second reaction was: ‘I want to try.’ And when he goes on the pitch, the first step, and he immediately says: ‘I can’t do it.’ So it was him. In a few seconds, he had three different perspectives but clearly he couldn’t do it.”

Mourinho regularly complained last season that Hazard was targeted by opponents for rough treatment and he was not afforded sufficient protection by the referees. He has not said the same this season.

Mourinho has tried everything to coax Hazard back to his best form, from the carrot to the stick to tactical tweaks. He has played him as the No10, where he excelled when he was younger, only to conclude that he did not give enough defensively in the position.

Mourinho has not named him in some of his criticisms, as he has preferred to talk about the team’s shortcomings, but when he spoke in late September about the lack of “serial champions” in the squad, and questioned the attitude of some of the players, it was assumed he was referring to Hazard. He immediately dropped him for the Champions League tie at Porto. He also suggested after the Aston Villa game on 17 October that he needed to work harder.

Yet there has been glowing praise – for example, after the 0-0 draw at Tottenham Hotspur on 29 November, when he used Hazard as the No9 and described his performance as “phenomenal”.

The impression has been that Mourinho has not been able to get through to Hazard and the overriding emotion post-Leicester was one of exasperation, not least when he wondered whether what he perceives to be his managerial genius had been the principle factor behind some of the players’ excellent seasons last time out.

“Maybe I did phenomenal work and brought them to a level that is not their level – it’s more than they really are,” Mourinho said.

Hazard would be delighted to hear that.

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