HAZARD LEFT OUT

Eden Hazard was not included in the Chelsea squad for their Champions League game against the German club FC Schalke because he couldn’t take part in the team’s training session on Monday.

Actually, the 22 years old Belgian midfielder had gone to France the previous day to hook up with some of his friends at his old club Lille. He spent the Sunday night there and on Monday morning, he had to return back to UK to join the Blues squad, but, unfortunately, he found out that his passport was not with him. He had lost it somewhere. Because of that, he couldn’t come back to London in time and missed the training session. That pissed off the Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and he handed Hazard a 1-game ban.

However, despite Hazard’s absence in that game against Schalke, the Blues didn’t have to face too much difficulty in securing 3 points. They easily defeated the German club by 3-0 and ensured that they remained at the top position in the Group E points table.

After that match, when Mourinho was asked about Hazard’s suspension, he said, “He has already apologized for that, but, whatever happened was not acceptable. It was not easy to drop him for such an important game, but, I had to take that decision in order to set an example. You can’t compromise with the principles.”

“Eden is not a bad guy. He committed a mistake and he got the punishment. To be dropped is the biggest punishment for a sportsman.”

Chelsea’s next game is against West Ham United. That is a Premier League game and will be played on Saturday at Upton Park. Hazard is expected to be back in the starting line up of Chelsea for that game.