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Cape Town - Belgium manager Roberto Martinez says Chelsea winger Eden Hazard's dribbling skills reminds him a lot of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.
Hazard scored a brilliant solo goal for the Blues as they beat Arsenal 3-1 at Stamford Bridge to stay nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
The 26-year-old Belgian international picked up the ball just close to the halfway line and brushed off the challenges of Francis Coquelin, Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi before coolly slotting home to put his club 2-0 ahead in the pivotal game.
Hazard is showing the form this season that made him the 2014-15 PFA Players' Player of the Year after enduring a miserable campaign last season.
Martinez, who is hoping Hazard can replicate his form for the national side, told Goal.com website on Sunday: "What he does is quite unique - that acceleration, stop and standing still. He reminds me a lot of Messi.
"Not many players can control the moment and take a defender where you want to take him. The way he uses the ball is sensational.
"What is surprising more than anything is his maturity. Sometimes when you watch a winger or creative player, you think the game will find you. He’s not like that.
"I think Eden, at 26, is almost at the perfect moment in his career and the system that Chelsea plays, which is the same that we play in the national team, really gives him a new breath of life."
