David Luiz, Eden Hazard Made Contrasting but Correct Choices on Chelsea Careers

As the UEFA Champions League gets ready to kick into gear once more, attention will turn to the biggest and most intriguing of the last-16 clashes—chief amongst them Manchester City vs. Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain vs. Chelsea.

From that latter tie (Tuesday at 2:45 p.m. ET/7:45 p.m. GMT), a repeat of one of last year's quarter-finals, Brazilian centre-back David Luiz has been in the media recently as he prepares to return to the club he left in the summer. He now plays for PSG in Ligue 1.

Eden Hazard, a Chelsea star who has long been linked with a move to the French club, has been the subject of much recent buzz as well.

While both made very different decisions on their futures when the opportunity to move presented itself, both made the right calls for both themselves and the club, and both will no doubt feel they have a chance to go far in the competition this time around.

Luiz Departure

Make no mistake about it: There were plenty of jokes about Luiz costing PSG £50 million in the summer after he was part of the Brazil national team which saw the defence go wandering at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

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Even so, there has never been any doubt that Luiz is a player of enormous ability—it's simply been a case of trying to harness that in the right ways and allowing him to perform in a team which makes the most of his innate talents—both defensively and when in possession.

At Chelsea, he was never completely trusted by manager Jose Mourinho.

A move to a holding midfield role, first initiated by Rafa Benitez, seemed a compromise between keeping Luiz on the pitch and keeping him out of danger's way at the back.

Mourinho, ever-reserved and safety-first in mind, was never likely to have Luiz as his long-term, first-choice man at the back.

Luiz acknowledges that Mourinho didn't try to keep him at Chelsea, per the Telegraph, but not in a way which indicates bad feelings or a lack of respect:

"

People tried to make stories about me and [Jose] Mourinho. Never had any history [stories]. He was the boss and decided who plays and who doesn’t. I said ‘thank you’ to everyone. I was very happy in Chelsea but I decided now is the moment for another place and it became a great opportunity for me to come to a big project. Fantastic club. And I said, "Now I want to go to PSG."

...

I think like when he left Real Madrid and he said he wanted to go where he felt good. I was not feeling good there [at Chelsea] and I said I want to leave. He didn’t try too much because I was in Brazil and we just spoke on the telephone. And he said: "It’s OK, you can go."

"

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At PSG, Luiz has certainly been the main man, tallying more league minutes than every outfielder except Lucas Moura and Javier Pastore, and with the title fight still on, the 27-year-old will hope the move will be a great success.

Champions League success, of course, depends initially on whether he can keep out his old team or not.

Keystone Eden

Now for Hazard, who will be the prime leader in Chelsea's attempts to break down PSG.

The Belgian was a big target for the French club, as reported by Metro amongst others, but unlike Luiz, he opted to stay and sign a new contract with Chelsea.

It's almost incomparable, of course. Luiz had a fight on his hands to play his prime position, whereas Hazard is the cornerstone of the entire Chelsea lineup. Everything is built to be able to get the ball to the 24-year-old midfielder and let him cause problems.

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More recently, Hazard has stated on TF1 (h/t ESPN FC) that a move to PSG was never in the cards for him. He wanted to stay throughout and feels good at the club.

He will be key to Chelsea's chances of progression to the last eight, which most onlookers probably consider the English side slight favourites for, given that they beat PSG last season, have improved in key areas this year and PSG haven't really hit the heights yet domestically in 2014-15.

Is Chelsea Better than in 2012?

Luiz was at the heart of the Chelsea defence which lifted the Champions League trophy in 2012, of course.

He played alongside Gary Cahill despite being injured, according to his interview with the Telegraph, with captain John Terry suspended for that match—along with half a dozen other players between the two sides combined.

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While Chelsea went all the way that year with a combination of relentless defensive work and the still-prodigious scoring rate of striker Didier Drogba—not to mention an amount of luck with Bayern Munich not quite able to get over the line on their home turf—the current side is undoubtedly far stronger, better balanced and deeper.

Ironically, perhaps, the one area they may still have a struggle with is centre-back—with Luiz having gone and Cahill struggling for form of late, young Kurt Zouma has recently had a few chances.

Even so, and even if Chelsea win, there is little doubt that Luiz will still think he made the right call to move on to a new challenge. Hazard will be just as convinced that his team can carry him to similar heights that Luiz reached in 2012, having joined Chelsea just after their Champions League win that year.

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