‘Eden Hazard Did Not Fake Injury Against Leicester City’

Eden Hazard’s dad has rebuffed any suggestion his son faked the injury that contributed to his substitution in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Leicester City on Monday.

Hazard was taken out for Pedro Rodriguez on 31 minutes after a late challenge by Jamie Vardy during the loss at the King Power Stadium, which left Chelsea just one point clear of the relegation zone.

Mourinho said after the match that he did know the nature of the injury, adding: “The only thing I know is in 10 seconds he made the decision himself. It must be a serious injury because he just left the pitch and just made the decision not to go in.”

There had been suggestions in England — picked up by Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad — that Hazard had exaggerated the injury, which has since been diagnosed as a hip problem.

However, his father, Thierry, has now told Het Nieuwsblad that there is no truth to those claims.

“These are stories that are invented when things go badly,” he said. “Do you really think that Eden would feign an injury in such an important match? You also must know him as someone who likes to play football and preferably to do so as much as possible? No, he really hurt his hip.”

On when last season’s player of the year is likely to return, Hazard Sr. added: “It’s difficult to say, but let’s hope he’s playing again soon.”