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Jose Mourinho: ‘Eden Hazard had a better season than Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo must put team achievements ahead of individual honors, according to Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes the leadership qualities of 24-year-old forward Eden Hazard make him a candidate to captain the Blues, the London Evening Standard reports.

Hazard on the other hand won the Premier League and Capital One Cup at Chelsea, as well as being voted PFA Player of the Year.

“But the reality is that last season he was lucky – let’s see what happens next season”.

Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or in January but ended the season without a major team trophy as Real Madrid fell short on all fronts. He was fantastic. He scored an incredible number of goals.

“I am not saying he (Ronaldo) is not fantastic”.

Arsene Wenger has delivered three Premier League titles since replacing Bruce Rioch as manager in 1996, but the Gunners have finished no higher than third in each of the last 10 seasons as the Frenchman often shunned big-money signings in favour of developing young talent.

Why not fill him with confidence and send him out on to the pitch with the challenge of proving that he’s the best player in the Premier League for a second season in a row?

Mourinho went on to say that he feels Messi is now the best player in the world.

Ronaldo has long cemented his place among the top two players in the world alongside Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

The Portuguese tactician is adamant that a player can not be considered amongst the world’s best players without winning trophies each season and has consequently hailed his star player as part of the top three. He could have been injured many times.

But Hazard’s form has provoked him to break his vow of silence, which will surely cause consternation among his legion of critics back in Madrid.

“If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years I think maybe you will find a surprise”, Mourinho, who allowed goalkeeper Petr Cech to join Arsenal in an #11million deal last month, said in the Guardian. Last season Messi won the treble.

Hazard or Ronaldo may be debatable, but to Mourinho there’s no doubt that Messi remains No.1.

Mourinho also argued that a truly great player needs to win titles with their team, saying: “They have to win some titles, no?”

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“He suffered more than a couple of nasty tackles and could have been in trouble”. I don’t like players or managers to win individual trophies without the team. Football without titles is nothing. He is in his fourth season at Chelsea so he didn’t arrive yesterday.

Jose Hazard