Hazard suggests both he and Mourinho held Salah back

Matt Stead

Mohamed Salah “did not get his chance” at Chelsea, Eden Hazard has admitted.

Salah joined the Blues in January 2014, but played just 19 times in all competitions.

He was loaned out first to Fiorentina then to Roma, where he moved permanently in 2016.

Now at Liverpool, Salah is in perhaps the finest form of his career, and will meet Chelsea once again when the two sides clash on Saturday.

Jose Mourinho will not be in attendance as he has other things to do, like managing Manchester United, but Hazard feels the Portuguese may have been one of the reasons for Salah’s lack of opportunity at Stamford Bridge.

“He’s a top, top, top player,” Hazard said. “He did not get his chance at Chelsea maybe because of the manager, because of the other players? I don’t know.

“He has quality but in that period I remember we had me, Willian, Oscar, so for him it was not easy.

“He is a fantastic striker and this season he has scored a lot of goals. It is always good to play against a friend but Liverpool is not only about Salah. They have a lot of quality players.”

“A lot of players didn’t play on Wednesday [in the Champions League victory against Qarabag] and I played only 60 minutes and N’Golo [Kante] also came off, so we can be fresh on Saturday, even if the game is close.”