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Eden Hazard’s double a farewell gift for Chelsea

Belgian shines in 4-1 win over Arsenal for Chelsea's second Europa League title

Eden Hazard scored twice and then admitted it was his parting gift as the Belgian's brace helped Chelsea swamped Arsenal 4-1 in the Europa League final in Baku.

The match came to life with a flood of second-half goals, started by Olivier Giroud's 49th-minute opener against his old club.

Hazard then set up Pedro Rodriguez for Chelsea's second before grabbing a double of his own - including a penalty - either side of Alex Iwobi's consolation for Arsenal.

The Belgian is widely expected to leave Chelsea for Real Madrid after seven years in England, and this was the perfect way for him to bow out.

"I think it is a goodbye, but in football, you never know," the 28-year-old told BT Sport.

"My dream was to play in the (English) Premier League and I have done that for one of the biggest clubs, so maybe now it is the time for a new challenge."

It is his, and Chelsea's, second Europa League this decade, while it is Maurizio Sarri's first major trophy as a coach.

"I am really very happy but the trophy is very important for the club," Sarri said.

"In the Europa League, we played 15 matches, won 12 and drew three, so I think we deserved to win it."

Chelsea will be back in the Champions League next season, but there will be no return to Europe's top table for Arsenal.

Unai Emery's side had to win to qualify, yet they were not good enough on a bizarre night.

Chelsea will remember their evening with fondness, as will Sarri, who 24 hours earlier had stolen the headlines when he angrily stormed off the pitch in Baku during a training session in front of television cameras.

"Sarri is a great guy, a great coach and he deserves this," said David Luiz of his coach.

Sarri, 60, said he would speak to top officials at Chelsea - who have made a habit of hiring and firing managers in quick succession - in the coming days.

"We need to know what the club can do for me, what I can do better for the club," he said.

"In a couple of days, we will decide. But I have a contract, so at the moment, we are talking about nothing."

The few Chelsea supporters who came will not forget their night, but the fact there were reportedly only around 1,300 in Azerbaijan will be a source of regret for the club.

Uefa's decision to play the game in Baku had been heavily criticised, with the difficulty and cost of coming preventing many fans from travelling and meaning Arsenal's Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was controversially absent.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev was in the crowd, but there were thousands of empty seats in a stadium which holds almost 70,000.

That meant that, far away from the blood and thunder of a typical derby fixture, this had the feel of an end-of-season exhibition match on a foreign tour, for much of the first half anyway.

The players seemed short of rhythm in a match played 2½ weeks after the EPL season.

The goals came in the second half, with Chelsea taking the lead when Giroud stole in front of Laurent Koscielny and stooped to head home Emerson's cross.

It was his 11th goal in this season's competition, and there was to be no comeback from Arsenal, with Chelsea quickly putting this final beyond their opponents' reach as Hazard took over.

He set up Pedro Rodriguez for a clipped finish beyond Cech and into the far corner on the hour mark.

Five minutes later, Hazard calmly rolled in a penalty awarded after Ainsley Maitland-Niles barged into Giroud.

Substitute Iwobi's sublime volleyed reply followed, but Arsenal had left themselves with too much to do.

Giroud and Hazard then combined brilliantly for the latter to get his second and Chelsea's fourth in the 72nd minute. - AFP

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