Antonio Conte urges Chelsea's Eden Hazard to match Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's 'sacred fire'

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Simon Johnson8 December 2017

Chelsea coach Antonio Conte has told Eden Hazard he needs to match the sacred fire of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi if he wants to ever win the Ballon d'Or.

The Belgium international has staked a strong claim to be the best player in the Premier League since joining from Lille in 2012 and was named PFA and FWA Player of the Year two years ago.

But his laid-back personality has often led pundits to write off his chances of challenging the world elite for the biggest individual honours and Conte believes it is a part of his game he needs to work on.

He said: "I like to call it a 'sacred fire', when you have it inside you, the will to win every game to score goals.

"Every one of us, we have this sacred fire and we have to find the right solution to improve it.

"At this level you must have this type of situation. Then the flame can be big or little. When you have an inferno it means you are like Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar.

"Eden has the right characteristic to try to fight with these giants so then he has to try to do this and to improve his position in this (Ballon d'Or table) in the next year. He has the potential to do this but it is not simple to overcome this chance."

Conte continued: "When you see these players, Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar, you see a hunger in every moment. Score one goal they want to score the second, score a second, they want to score the third.

"They are very hungry and for that reason they are special. They want to win. It is not important if last season Ronaldo won.

"Now if you ask him or Messi, they are going to play another World Cup with the same hunger because they have hunger. They want to win, win, win and continue.

"It is not important the past for these players. For these reasons I repeat I have a great great respect for these players because to stay at that level you have to work very hard, it is tough."

Hazard has been in superb form for Chelsea of late, scoring eight goals in his last 11 appearances.

But Conte said: "I think now it is not right to talk aout Eden because we all know the importance of these players for Chelsea.

"He is an important player for us and during games he can make the difference for us. This is important.

"But at the same time I am his coach and I try to push him. But not only him I push all of my players to do their best in training. Because if you want to improve in training you can do so in the game."

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