Eden Hazard brushes off Chelsea transfer talk after FA Cup Final win but admits Blues must 'play better'

Getty Images
Tom Doyle20 May 2018

Eden Hazard refused to be drawn on speculation linking him with a move away from Chelsea this summer, but called on the Blues to improve their style after a 'defensive' FA Cup Final victory over Manchester United.

Hazard was one of Chelsea's star performers in Saturday's FA Cup Final win at Wembley, drawing a first-half penalty from Phil Jones before dispatching the spot-kick past David De Gea for the only goal of the game.

The Belgian was a thorn in the side of United as Jose Mourinho's Red Devils pressed in search of an equaliser in the second half, with Hazard providing a valuable outlet on the counter as United struggled to deal with his pace and trickery on the ball.

Hazard has been continuously linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge in the last two years, with Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane a keen admirer of the forward - with Hazard also a fan of the French legend.

In Pictures | Chelsea vs Manchester United, FA Cup Final | 19/05/2018

1/61

The 27-year-old's future at Chelsea has been made increasingly uncertain after the Blues missed out on Champions League football for next season, but Hazard would not be drawn on his future immediately after the FA Cup Final.

Asked whether the Wembley win increased his chances of staying in west London, Hazard told BBC Sport: "Now I am just happy.

"To see the fans celebrate is something we like. We didn't have a great season but at least we finish with a trophy."

Chelsea provided a strong rearguard display to keep United at bay at Wembley, with Mourinho's men dominating possession - 66 per cent to 34 per cent - and having the majority of the chances - 18 to six.

Despite coming out on top, Hazard admitted that Chelsea need to play a more expansive style of football in future if they are to avoid the same disappointment they encountered this season with a fifth-placed Premier League finish.

REUTERS

"We tried to defend well," he added.

"We kept a clean sheet, we scored one goal, it is enough today but if we want to win a lot of games we need to play better because we had to play defensively."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in