I played against Mohamed Salah but Eden Hazard was unstoppable at Chelsea – I was chasing shadows

Michail Antonio has described Eden Hazard as the 'most frustrating' player he's ever played against. The former Chelsea winger enjoyed seven fruitful years at Stamford Bridge, where he established himself as one of Europe's top players, before joining Real Madrid for a fee that could have exceeded £150m.

Unfortunately for Hazard, he suffered numerous injuries during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu. Then, after the fourth year of his stay, Los Blancos terminated his contract a year ahead of a schedule.

Despite reportedly receiving offers from as many as six different clubs after leaving the Spanish capital, Hazard decided to hang up his boots. In an official statement, the Belgian paid homage to Lille, Chelsea and Real Madrid before outlining his retirement plans.

While his spell at the Santiago Bernabeu didn't exactly go to plan, Hazard established himself as one of the best wingers in the world during his time in the top flight of French and English football. Antonio played against Salah eight more times than he did the Blues legend, yet he branded the latter unstoppable.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast last week, the West Ham striker said: "Hazard in his prime at Chelsea. I played right-back against him as well and he was the most frustrating person to play against ever. Literally, he didn’t come up against me, which was annoying.

"He would pick the ball up and drive into midfield. Do you know how hard that is when they drive inside? You can’t get close… I was literally chasing shadows the whole day because I couldn’t even get close to him with the way he was driving inside."

In September, Hazard raised eyebrows when he appeared to draw a line under the Salah debate. When asked by SPORTbible who the better player was, the Belgian, without hesitation, replied: "Mo Salah, by far."

The Hazard and Salah briefly played together at Chelsea before the latter jetted off to Italy in search of more game time. When asked if he knew just how good the Egyptian would become when they were at Stamford Bridge, the former said: "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'."

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