Corinthians defender Paulo André has warned his teammates of the threat of Chelsea forward Eden Hazard ahead of the Fifa Club World Cup final on Sunday in Yokohama.
André, 29, is well aware of the Belgian’s ability after playing against him in the French Ligue 1 while he was at Le Mans and Hazard was still at Lille, and the centre back believes that he poses a similar threat to his fellow countryman Neymar.
“Hazard plays very left and shall fall into Alessandro’s area of the pitch,” André is quoted as saying by Globo Esporte.
“He is a player who combines strength with speed, has great skill and often passed through the right side (of Monterrey in the semi-final).
“I played against him in France and know him well and know we need to reduce the space he has, perhaps very much like what we did with Neymar in the semi-final of the Libertadores.”
On that occasion Corinthians, who beat Santos 1-0, managed to ify the Brazilian star and will be hoping to do the same to Hazard this weekend.
