Hazard Vents Frustration Over Mourinho's Tactics after Semi-Final Defeat to Atletico

Chelsea star Eden Hazard has criticised manager Jose Mourinho's methods after they were eliminated from the Champions League by Atletico Madrid.

The west London club held the La Liga outfit to a goalless draw in the first leg at the Vicente Calderon last week, managing only five attempts. However, they failed to replicate a similar defensive performance in the return leg at Stamford Bridge.

The Spanish capital outfit inflicted a 3-1 defeat on the home side, killing Chelsea's hopes of winning a third successive European competition. Hazard further expressed his dismay that Mourinho heaps the workload on his shoulders.

The 23-year-old is Chelsea's top scorer in all competitions with 17 goals and has also made the maximum contribution with nine assists to his name this campaign.

"Chelsea is not made to play football. We're good on the counter, a little bit like Real [Madrid] against Bayern [Munich]. Often, I'm asked to do it all by myself and it's not easy," Hazard explained.

Fernando Torres opened the scoring in the 36<sup>th minute only to see Adrian Lopez restore parity with an away goal for Diego Simeone's side before half time. Diego Costa earned and converted a penalty in the second-half before Arda Turan safeguarded Atletico's ticket to the final on 24 May.

Despite the disappointment, Hazard rightfully claimed that the La Liga outfit deserved to progress further into the final, setting up a Madrid derby at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

"I don't know what we lacked. After scoring, we had the game in our hands. We did it well tonight since we scored, but their goal hurt us before the break. We failed to make the difference in the second half," Hazard said.

"Maybe they wanted it more than we did. It was an intense game, beautiful to watch with opportunities. I'm sad but logic has been respected because they deserved to qualify. It was a complicated game. It will be a lesson for us regarding next year."

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had earlier lambasted Mourinho's tactics stating that "Chelsea had parked two buses" in the aftermath of his side's 2-0 loss in the Premier League fixture at Anfield last Sunday.