Are both Manchester City and Manchester United rueing the victory too?
Eden Hazard. So mercifully the saga is over, but there are questions yet to be answered.
Firstly, had Chelsea not won the Champions League, would the exciting Belgian attacker have signed?
We doubt it. Hazard said from day one that he wanted to sign for a team playing Champions League football next year.
Chelsea’s sixth place finish in the league meant they had been destined for the Europa League instead, until their memorable final win in Munich.
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So where was Eden Hazard heading before that? We may never know, and be left to wonder.
But if Chelsea had lost the penalty shoot-out, Eden Hazard may have been announcing himself as a Manchester City or Manchester United player last night.
Tottenham Hotspur could even have been in the running, but they had their Champions League spot unceremoniously swiped from underneath their feet by Chelsea’s Champions League victory.
They have been reeling ever since. Losing out on Hazard won’t have the same effect on United, or especially City, but it will cause reason for disappointment.
How much disappointment, only the two clubs will know themselves, how close they came to signing the Belgian.
It certainly seems as though the victory prompted a last minute change of decision, and those who unsuccessfully courted him will feel particularly unlucky.
Call him Didier Drogba’s parting gift.
Where would Hazard have signed if Chelsea had not won the Champions League?
image: © adKinn
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