Real Madrid: Hazard's motivation to be the best questioned
Clarence Seedorf has plenty of experience of winning the top honours and is well placed to judge who could take over from Messi and Ronaldo in Ballon d'Or awards.
Ex-Madridista Clarence Seedorf, the player who has won the European Cup with the most teams (Real Madrid, Ajax and AC Milan) spoke to Goal.com and expressed doubts over the competitive nature of Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard.
Does Hazard have the motivation to be the best?
Questioned about potential candidates for the Ballon d’Or - taking over from the dominant pair of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo - the Dutch coach put the Belgian player on the list, but with certain reservations.
“The question is more: are we going to see some of the younger generation to step up their game? That's what I'd like to see, because Cristiano and Messi have shown for the last 12-13 years the ability to continue to do their thing.”
Real Madrid news:
“There are enough players that could step it up. Neymar had decent season, but he's one of them who can still step it up and be there, then we have some midfielders like De Bruyne.
“We have Hazard, I always said that Hazard easily can be there but it's about are you motivated to be the best? And Lukaku who has been amazing, he has jumped up the last season.
“Maybe I'm forgetting a few, Lewandowski did an amazing job, Coutinho, all these players. There are many players, Mané, Salah.
“So, it's about the consistency which Messi and Ronaldo have shown. Cristiano has shown all the players that they can be consistent over the years at that level and that's a mentality thing, that's a motivation and drive that champions have. Let's hope to see more.
Seedorf happy if Cristiano equals UCL record
Seedorf also spoke about the potential of Cristiano equalling his European Cup record although reminds us that he’ll always be the first.
“It'll be a very nice pleasure to have Cristiano Ronaldo equalling my record. We could've talked about somebody different, right? So, I don't think it's a bad thing.
“I will always be the first and that won't change, and records are there to be equalled and to be broken, and Juventus can definitely always be competitors for the Champions League. As I said before, Cristiano is maintaining his motivation and his performances, so yeah. Why not?”
And on whether or not Messi and Cristiano can continue to push for more Ballon d’Or success?
“I think if they are fit and motivated, they will continue to perform at a high level, both of them. I don't see why they wouldn’t.”