Eden Hazard claims he was a better 'pure football' player than Cristiano Ronaldo | OneFootball

Highlights

Eden Hazard has sensationally claimed that only Lionel Messi was a greater footballer than he was. The Belgian did take time to acknowledge the legacy of Cristiano Ronaldo, but also suggested he was better than the Portuguese superstar in 'pure football terms'.

The former Lille, Chelsea and Real Madrid star was a dazzling talent, with mesmerising dribbling ability on the ball. His four-year spell at the Santiago Bernabeu wasn't quite to the level of Ronaldo's, as injuries ruined the final years of Hazard's playing career.

Initially breaking onto the scene as an exciting youngster at Lille, the attacker would reach a world-class standard at Chelsea after joining the reigning European champions in 2012. He certainly has a case for being one of the best players in Premier League history, but in comparison with Ronaldo and Messi - who are on a completely different level - he may struggle.

Per GOAL, Hazard was asked about the abilities of the two players who are largely considered to be the greatest players of all time - Messi and Ronaldo. The 33-year-old was very complimentary of his peers, while also backing his own abilities.

He initially gave plaudits to Inter Miami's Argentine genius, saying: "Individually, Messi is perhaps the only one. I loved watching the Barcelona player, less so at the end, but he's the greatest in history. It's impossible to take the ball away from him."

While most would agree with his assessment of the former Barcelona hero, it was his assessment of Ronaldo's ability in comparison to his own that will have people talking:

Hazard was also sure to praise other top-class players that he shared an era with, including several of his former colleagues at Los Blancos: "Neymar, maybe. After that, he's no better than me, but at Real, you've got the best, also in terms of their careers: Benzema, Modric, they were the best, Kroos, Kev' (De Bruyne), they all exude football."

Eden Hazard vs Cristiano Ronaldo

Statistically, there is no comparison

Ronaldo is the highest-scoring player of all time, meaning no player can compare to the Al-Nassr striker's record in front of goal. He does have the advantage over Hazard in the fact that he started his career as a winger before converting to become an out-and-out number nine.

The younger iteration of CR7 played the game in a similar way to Hazard, weaving his way through defences with a direct dribbling approach. For the past decade, however, the Portugal international has operated almost exclusively inside the 18-yard box. As is the subjectivity involved in football, it is very hard for anyone to dispell the claims made by Hazard - who retired from the sport in 2023 - but the numbers certainly go against him.

As seen in the above table, the numbers aren't even close and this is perhaps what Hazard is alluding to when he says Ronaldo is a 'bigger player' than him. In fairness, the Belgian's claim appears to be that he was a better technical player than his Portuguese counterpart.