Europa League: Why I benched Hazard in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw Frankfurt – Sarri

Chelsea boss, Maurizio Sarri has explained why he dropped his star player, Eden Hazard to the bench in their Europa league semi final 1-1 draw in Germany on Thursday.

It was somewhat of a surprise to see Hazard’s name among the substitutes in the important clash.

Speaking about the decision, Sarri told BT Sport that the Belgian needed a rest, having started 10 matches in a roll.

He said, “Eden was on the bench because in the last period, he played 10 matches in a row.

“This match was number 59 [for Chelsea] I think, and Hazard also played eight matches with the national team.

“For a player, it is impossible to play 70 to 75 matches in a season and so sometimes, Hazard, like all the other players, needs to rest or not to rest, but to not play for 90 minutes.

“This is the first reason, the second is that Eden usually is able to change the match from the bench and so for me, it was better to start with Willian and then to try in the last 30 to 35 minutes with Eden.”