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Thibaut Courtois tips Eden Hazard for Ballon d'Or

Thibaut Courtois says that Chelsea teammate Eden Hazard can end Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's stronghold on the Ballon d'Or.

Thibaut Courtois has backed Chelsea teammate Eden Hazard to win the Ballon d'Or at some point in the near future.

The Belgian superstar inspired the Blues to Premier League and Capital One Cup glory last season and scooped a host of individual awards including PFA Player of the Year.

Nobody other than Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or since Kaka in 2007, but Courtois believes that his compatriot is as capable as anybody of ending that monopoly.

"He's a potential Golden Ball winner," the goalkeeper told Goal.com.

"We have to see what Messi and Ronaldo do, two players who are so good that sometimes I don't think they give a chance to other players.

"They score so many goals that in this moment it is always one of them who will win the Ballon d'Or. But Eden has the capacity of winning it. This season he was decisive for us. Maybe he can be sometimes a little bit more, but we followed his lead to the title."

Hazard netted 19 goals in all competitions last season.

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