Jose Mourinho tried to explain Eden Hazard blasting his penalty against Maccabi Tel-Aviv over the bar
Chelsea FC boss Jose Mourinho tried to reason Eden Hazard’s awful penalty miss in the meeting with Maccabi Tel-Aviv by using the Rugby World Cup as an excuse.
Mourinho was in a markedly improved mood after Chelsea showed some semblance of their 2014/15 double-winning form by demolishing the Israeli club 4-0. Addressing the press ahead of the Blues’ crucial fixture against Arsenal tomorrow, the boss joked with the press on a number of topics. We already covered the nuts and bolts of his comments in this post, but the Portuguese also humourously reflected on Hazard’s penalty effort.
"Maybe it was an agreement with some sponsor to promote the Rugby World Cup."
It was a terrible penalty. Truly terrible. Hell, it nearly threatened clearing the Shed. With the missed spot-kick coming in the fifth minute, Blues fans would have been forgiven for thinking the worst. After conceding a few penalties themselves, having the star man miss one given in their favour summed up Chelsea’s season to that point appropriately.
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Hazard has been in poor form so far this season but has showed signs of life over the past week. He took baby steps towards his true potential against Everton and continued the upwards trajectory in the midweek Champions League clash.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing is that he seemed to easily shrug off the penalty horror show. The Belgian grew into the game and took on defenders with a confidence that Blues fans have not seen in this campaign. Mourinho, meanwhile, has the utmost faith that his playmaker will get back to his best.
"He is the best. He’ll be the best again. One of these days, he’s the man of the match."
Hazard has evidently been pulled down along with his teammates. It’s hard to perform when no-one around you is but it will be up to him and the team to rally around and channel Wednesday’s positive vibes into the crunch Arsenal game.
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Away from the football, with Jose Mourinho’s role as an ambassador for the Rugby World Cup’s humanitarian partner, the UN World Food Programme, he may also have a chance to pop down to Twickenham to learn how a proper rugby penalty is taken.
England got off to a positive start in the Rugby World Cup, dispatching Fiji 35-11 to open the tournament. For our US friends, USA are also taking part in the competition with their first game coming on Sunday against Samoa (you can catch all the games on the Universal Sport network).
As for me, I’ll be hoping that the rugby fellas do exactly the opposite of the football team: well.
All quotes taken from the Mirror.
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