Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has now shared that his side were running special training sessions to prepare for one Chelsea player when David Moyes was in charge of the club.
He told the Stick to Football podcast that he and the rest of the players were bemused as to why a club of their stature were preparing for individual players before games.
Moyes’ spell at United did not go to plan, with him not even making it through a full season in charge.
At the time, it was Jose Mourinho in charge again at Stamford Bridge, with him finishing third in the league the year before winning it again.
One of this most important players in his second tenure at the club was Eden Hazard, who was beginning to prove his abilities to win games single-handedly.
It seems did this not go unnoticed with rival managers, as Ferdinand shared that Moyes operated special training sessions to try and counter his brilliance.
He said: “We played against Liverpool and Chelsea and I remember in the training sessions we were setting up to stop Hazard and Coutinho. He put a box in the middle of the pitch or in the area they play in, and the players were looking at each other like we don’t set up to stop individuals, we have never done that at United.
“Even Messi, we didn’t really have a massive plan for him. It was that mindset of you worry about us, not us worry about you. Those two games made me think we were setting up with a defeatist mentality rather than a title winning team last season.
“It was a very big shift and that was a thing where one of the things where the players were not against him, but it gave the players a question mark about him in their head.”
After his shock retirement earlier this season, Chelsea fans have had more than enough opportunities to reminisce on his talents that they were able to enjoy for seven years.
Hazard mentioned that his time under Mourinho was his favourite during his time at Stamford Bridge, with them going on to win the Premier League in the season after the one referenced.
While the Belgian is likely not a huge fan of what is currently going on at Chelsea, he has already stated that he is an admirer of Cole Palmer and what he is currently doing on the pitch.