Dazzling Eden Hazard reminds Liverpool of what they wish they had in Philippe Coutinho after Chelsea draw

There are those who have monitored Eden Hazard’s habits closely from Chelsea’s Cobham training ground that say the only thing stopping him becoming a footballer with an indisputable standing in the game would be his loyalty to fast food, particularly when summer arrives and there is no international tournament to consider.

They suggest it explains why every other year he has a tendency to he grow into a campaign rather than race into one; becoming leaner, fitter – more mobile, more powerful and ultimately more influential as the months pass. Perhaps Hazard does not take his career as seriously he should do but then, perhaps if his focus was absolute, he would not be nearly as interesting.

His first half performance at Anfield was the most dazzling of any visiting player this season by some distance, reminding what Liverpool don’t really have even with Philippe Coutinho’s presence: someone in Hazard, whose skill even in almost total isolation means he does not always have to score to have a major bearing on the flow of a match.

The spotlight this week has been on Mohamed Salah, the same question being asked over and over again, why did Chelsea decide to let him go when he was 21-years-old? Nobody but José Mourinho can deliver a defining reason but it is imaginable that amongst the forefront of his thoughts at the time would be the presence of Hazard in Salah’s area of the field, someone who three-and-a-half years ago, was alone able to dictate the direction of Chelsea’s entire attack.

There is a dull and rather pointless tendency in the analysis of football to rank abilities. There is a chance that under a different manager playing a different way, Salah and Hazard could have been very good for each other.

Initially here, you could see the subtle differences in the levels. Salah’s threat had been nullified by Chelsea’s twin defensive bank of eight, reminding also that Salah – as Jürgen Klopp stressed last weekend when the Egyptian was earning all of the plaudits – is a winger who will sometimes need his teammates to cater towards his attributes to ensure his involvement, especially when opponents sit so deep.

Hazard, meanwhile, was making things happen; things from absolutely nothing, like when he sprayed a free-kick across the other side of the pitch to the feet of Marcos Alonso when everyone else on the pitch was busy preparing themselves. Alonso’s subsequent cross was poor but Hazard’s pass was absolutely glorious.

open image in gallery

For some unexplained reason, the coverage of Alonso’s release from Bolton Wanderers to Fiorentina - the same club Salah left Chelsea for – has never had the same focus even though Alonso has emerged as arguably the outstanding left wing back in Europe. Neither has it ever been seriously asked why Martin O’Neill decided to let Gary Cahill leave Aston Villa. He has since become title winning captain of Chelsea. Is it too easy to simply propose football is not and never has been the exact science some claim it to be and that all players develop at different rates depending on their opportunities, which can involve a degree of fortune?

There are some, of course, like Hazard whose paths to the top have been so smooth, they reach a point where it is only small differences that define how they are remembered. Perhaps he could do with a fresh challenge to gain that edge. Perhaps Barcelona should be looking to sign him rather than Coutinho. Based on this night certainly, they’d be crazy not to consider a move.