Updated at 01.18
MANCHESTER CITY DEFENDER Vincent Kompany has singled out compatriot Eden Hazard as Chelsea’s main attacking threat ahead of Sunday’s Premier League encounter and has joked he would not mind it if the winger were to sit the game out due to illness.
The 24-year-old has developed into one of Chelsea’s undisputed stars since joining them from Lille in 2012 and Kompany believes his fellow Belgium international has the potential to reach the same level as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“You’d almost hope that Eden Hazard would have diarrhoea,” Kompany told Het Nieuwsblad .
“Now let’s be serious. You can’t underestimate the impact he has on Chelsea. And then you’ll expect he would have a dip in his performance level. Last week, against Swansea, he maybe didn’t play his best first half, but when they were reduced to 10, he was the only one who was dangerous. Because he ran past three, four defenders.
“You can have as many tactical plans as you want, if Eden starts running, it is chaos. He’s at a level where he decides how good his team are.
“Messi and Ronaldo are stats animals. If you look at their talent, you can compare Eden to them. But they score a lot. Unbelievable. But Eden has made so much progression the last few years that it is possible he reaches their level. It wouldn’t even be a bad performance when he ends up just behind Messi and Ronaldo.”
Hazard netted 14 goals in 38 Premier League appearances in 2014-15, while setting up nine more.
