Mo Salah Made Feelings Clear on Eden Hazard Before PL Hall of Fame Induction
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah previously offered his thoughts on Eden Hazard ahead of the ex-Chelsea winger’s induction into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Hazard, who is now retired, became the 26th Premier League legend to receive the coveted honour on Wednesday (October 29).
The 34-year-old was certainly a hit at Stamford Bridge following his 2012 transfer from Ligue 1 outfit Lille.
The 2014/15 Premier League player of the season helped Chelsea win two Premier League titles during his seven-year spell in London, registering 85 goals and 54 assists in 245 appearances.
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But Hazard was one of them players that statistics don’t tell the real story about. The Belgian would often beat players at will with his close control and slaloming dribbles during his time at Stamford Bridge before he transferred to Real Madrid in 2019.
Despite his time in the Spanish capital, for the most part, being one to forget, he will forever be remembered as one of the best wingers of the 2010s.
And like most world-class players are, he has often been the subject of a classic Premier League debate known as the ‘Salah-Hazard’ debate.
In terms of goalscoring, there is only one winner with Salah having netted 189 times – the fourth-most of any player – in 310 English top-flight appearances.
But for many, Hazard had the edge in terms of his ability to entertain supporters and get them on the edge of their seats while also giving full-backs nightmares ahead of games.
Despite being confident in his own ability throughout his career, Hazard did, in fact, concede that Salah was better than him “by far” in a 2024 interview with SPORTbible.
Hazard was also asked if he could foresee Salah becoming a world-class player when the pair played together at Chelsea, to which he replied: “He was good already, you know, but that good? We played when he was playing in Basel. So we played Champions League the year before and then we were like, ‘Wow’.
“And then we bought him like, ‘Yeah, we have to. We have to buy this guy because this guy is so good’.
“And then, you know, in football you have ups and downs, and then what he did with Liverpool is like, ‘Wow’.”
So, it’s fair to say Hazard rates Salah, but does the Liverpool forward rate the Belgian?
Well, the answer to that question is yes.
During an interview with Marca back in 2021, the 33-year-old Egyptian international named Hazard when asked which Real Madrid players he liked, before saying: “I have a great relationship with him, he did very well at Chelsea.”
In a later interview with TNT Sports Mexico in January 2025, Salah also described Hazard as one of his best friends in football.
One thing is for sure: both players are Premier League icons.
Topics: Mohamed Salah, Eden Hazard, Premier League, Liverpool, Chelsea, Football
Luke Davies