We played better against Atletico – Hazard

Eden Hazard admitted Chelsea played better in their win over Atletico Madrid then they did in Wednesday’s thrilling 3-3 draw with Roma, despite scoring his first two goals of the season against the Italians.

The Belgian forward netted to put Chelsea 2-0 up after 37 minutes following David Luiz’s opener, and he struck again to level the match in the 75th minute after an Edin Dzeko-inspired Roma had raced into a 3-2 lead.

The 26-year-old reflected on a relatively positive outcome after defeats in Chelsea’s previous two matches, telling BT Sport: “It’s a good game to play in and a good result for both teams.

“We should have won it. After being 2-0 up at half-time you must win, but they are good players. Dzeko is a fantastic striker.

“We gave everything to the end of the game. One point is enough, after two defeats it’s not easy to bounce back.”

3-3! HAZARD WITH HIS HEAD! #CHEROM pic.twitter.com/o8FafWTUZC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 18, 2017

Hazard had scored just one goal in his previous 14 games in all competitions for Chelsea, but he said that the importance of seeing his name on the scoresheet was outweighed by the team’s performance.

Chelsea came back from 1-0 down to beat Atletico 2-1 at Estadio Wanda Metroplitano in September, and Hazard said that game satisfied him more.

“It’s good to score, but for me scoring is not important – we played better in Madrid and I prefer this kind of game,” he said.

Chelsea face Watford, Everton and Bournemouth in the Premier League before they travel to Rome at the end of October, when Hazard hopes the Blues will take a significant step towards qualification from Champions League Group C.

“At least we stay first in the group and we go there [to Roma] to win the game,” he said. “It won’t be easy in Roma but we go there to win because we want to finish the job early.”