Sarri: Hazard is as important to us as Messi is to Barcelona

Maurizio Sarri was naturally happy about his charges 2-1 win over Watford tonight and likened Eden Hazard to Messi and Juventus, while also calling out some Chelsea fans as stupid.

Eden Hazard struck twice, his 100th and 101st goals for the Blues.

"Of course he is very important for us,” said Sarri.

”But Messi is very important for Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo is very important for Juventus. He is a very great player.

"He is able to play in every position. He is playing like a false number nine. He is very able to play in that position, today he scored two goals and I think he made two or three very good assists.

“He is very able to come to play with the team-mates, he is able to make space for team-mates, he is very able in that position, but I think that he can play very well in every position."

Sarri was less vocal about alleged antisocial chants coming from the away end where the Chelsea fans were.

“I didn't hear anything,” said the Italian.

“First of all I want to speak with my club. Second I don't want to generalise. For the 99 per cent of cases, then in every community there are some stupids. Then all together we have to fight against stupid people, but not against the Chelsea fan."

Of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who came on as a substitute for Pedro and was himself substituted late on, Sarri’s said.

"He played for the first time this season in the Premier League, he played for 55 minutes very well. He had a little injury with his hamstring one week ago and 10 minutes to go he had pain in the same point. So we preferred to change.

"I can understand [why the fans weren't happy] but there wasn't another solution, it was too dangerous."