Sarri of Chelsea hints at the release of Eden Hazard after her master class sank the West Ham | Soccer

The adulation that fell after the final whistle when Eden Hazard applauded, almost sheepishly, her thanks to all sides of the arena was a recognition of the genius of a man. He had been a virtuoso, stifled by the unbelief of tribunes, canoes and opposing ranks. It might have been tempting to panic prematurely and wonder who could ever replace the Belgian when, as seems inevitable, he ends up leaving for Real Madrid, but it is sometimes better to savor every last minute of excellence.

The disturbing can wait. If Hazard was advised of his determination to leave with a flourish, the next few weeks could be a joy. Take the half-way goal of the first half that distinguished West Ham, cutting him in half from the moment he threw the ball into space, where the turbos collided and the volley became a gallop . Declan Rice was an observer too far from the challenge to meet a challenge. Then came the zigzag slalom, played at a vertiginous speed, through Angelo Ogbonna and Fabián Balbuena just inside the visitors' playing area.

Hazard then reached the penalty spot before sending his shot into the corner of the net before Ryan Fredericks, a fifth panicked opponent, littering his trail of steam, could slip and attempt to smother the attempt. "It was something special," admitted the playmaker through his post-match beam fueled by adrenaline. "I'm small, so when I play against big players, it's very hard for them to change direction when I run on them."

These ruffled West Ham players had been dizzied by all this helpless and abandoned experience. The goal was to attract attention, one of the best of his seven-year stint in English football, though in truth it did not tell the whole story of his excitement.

Equally lavish was the weight and accuracy of his death, often suffocating beyond the backsides and invariably moving. Gonzalo Higuaín, who hit a post, and Callum Hudson-Odoi benefited from the type of risk delivery call at will, which residents now take for granted. There was then his dribble, summed up in this initial reward, but replicated with regular expeditions into enemy territory after the break, a unique blue blur in a shirt among the claret. West Ham has accused four players of swarming around him in an attempt to quell the threat, but his host's No. 10 would not be smothered. Marko Arnautovic used a shot from Hazard's shoulder to clear him from the ball into the box, and was lucky that the referee did not consider this foul as a foul.

His 19th goal of the campaign, played since Ross Barkley's pbad as the derby pbaded, was entering his last minute, easing the tension created by West Ham's improved display after the interval. The new aggression of visitors, Manuel Lanzini, Felipe Anderson and Aaron Cresswell, nearly equalized, while Arnautovic saw his head deflected back by Emerson, allied to Chelsea's baseness that had fueled the tension which had presided over the initial domination of the hosts. anxiety motivated by the tie.

Photo: Chesnot / Getty Images Europe

Yet Hazard, given the master clbad he had directed, never risked losing his moment. Chelsea now occupies third place. After three league wins in just over a week, Slavia Prague has regained momentum. She qualifies for the quarter-finals of the Europa League and her impressive Sunday trip to Liverpool. They will be delighted by the presence of the Belgian in Merseyside. League leaders must be wary.

Of course, Maurizio Sarri did not have the chance to ignore the probability that the inspiration of his team dissipates this summer. Could this club afford to lose a player of its clbad and caliber? "From a technical point of view, no," he said. "Not at the moment.It is impossible to find another danger.For the moment, there is no other danger, its level is so high.You must find two players to reach the level of risk.J & # 39; so hope Hazard can stay here, otherwise we'll have to try something different.

"I'm sure the club does not want to sell it, but of course we all have to respect his decision, he'll be in the last season of the contract, and if he wants to have another experience, we'll respect him. of course try to convince him [to stay] but it's not easy. The Italian suggested that 100 million pounds would be "too cheap on this market", which would make a message to Real. The Spanish club had hoped to resume negotiations later this week, believing that Chelsea could be reduced to £ 85 million, which he would be more than happy to pay. It will surely be wishful thinking on their part.

On this evidence, he can still leave Chelsea with the Champions League football as a starting gift and with his reputation among his unchanged support. Those at the bottom of Matthew Harding's stand had deployed a huge Hazard banner during a milestone celebration of knee slip before the kickoff. At some point, we will miss him, but for the moment, you just have to cherish such performances.