Eden Hazard has been named the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season.
The Belgian attacking midfielder, 28, finished well clear of former Chelsea club-mate Olivier Giroud and Luka Jović – now a team-mate at Real Madrid – to win the third edition of the award, which was announced during the UEFA Europa League group stage draw in Monaco.
Hazard was man of the match as Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 in May’s final in Baku, setting up his side’s second goal and then scoring the third and fourth himself to crown his farewell game as a Blues player before his move to the Santiago Bernabéu.
Hazard made eight appearances in total for the Blues in the competition, scoring twice and assisting a similar number, having played 451 minutes.
The last of his seven seasons with the Blues was one in which he made a number of key interventions; he scored 21 goals in all competitions, and laid on 17 assists, statistics which earned him the club’s Player of the Season prize in early May.
Top ten players of 2018/19 UEFA Europa League
1 Eden Hazard (Chelsea, now Real Madrid) – 340 points
2 Olivier Giroud (Chelsea) – 119 points
3 Luka Jović (Eintracht, now Real Madrid) – 94 points
4 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) – 65 points
5 Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) – 19 points
6 N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea) – 16 points
7 João Félix (Benfica, now Atlético) – 12 points
8 Willian (Chelsea) – 11 points
9= Pedro Rodríguez (Chelsea) – 9 points
9= Sébastien Haller (Eintracht, now West Ham) – 9 points
