Chelsea star Eden Hazard: 'I never wanted Jose Mourinho to get sacked'

Chelsea star Eden Hazard has insisted that he "never" wanted Jose Mourinho to be sacked as manager at Stamford Bridge.

The Portuguese coach, who was recently appointed the new Manchester United boss, was sacked by the Blues in December, two-and-a-half years into his second spell in charge.

There were reports that a handful of first-team players led the charge to get Mourinho ousted, but Hazard has insisted that he did not want his manager to leave.

"People can say what they want about my relationship with him," Hazard told L'Equipe. "The difficulties I had with him came at a time when I was not playing well.

"But, deep down, I never wanted to see Mourinho fired. We experienced some very beautiful things together in 2015. This year was less good, but I have recovered from that and I want to stay at Chelsea. I like London and I have a couple of years left on my contract."

Antonio Conte will take charge of Chelsea when Italy's campaign at Euro 2016 comes to an end.