Kevin De Bruyne, good as ever? As the Manchester City machine crushed Brentford 3-1 to close in at the top, Jamie Carragher – just about calmed down from the Emirates – thought so. “If you put him in a Liverpool shirt, Liverpool would win the league,” he wailed. “I think that’s how dominant he is.” Comparisons were made with the greats of Our League. “Cantona, Zola, Bergkamp … he’s better than all of them,” squeaked Carra, though he omitted one name, another famous Belgian, a player very possibly more talented than King Kev. Only five months older, too.

Eden Hazard is something of a forgotten man, but was one of the very best players of the 2010s. Chelsea won the auction for Lille’s little genius in 2012, and for £30m, they got a player who was the creative inspiration behind two title wins, in 2014-15 under José Mourinho and then 2016-17, under Antonio Conte. There were nights when he was untouchable, slaloming through defenders, bullets in his boots, his shooting just as venomous as De Bruyne’s. It wasn’t all gravy. There were knack problems and public beefs with both Mourinho and Conte, among others. Hazard was never the type to sit through hours of analysis or do laptop study on opponents. He just wanted to play. Slotting home a penalty in the 2019 Big Vase final was his last act in blue before he got lost in the glitch of the space-time continuum recognised by leading physicists as ‘being rubbish for Real Madrid’. Similarly to Kaká, a brilliant player’s previously stratospheric heights were voided by being a Bernabéu bust.

The past weekend saw Hazard – £88.3m for 54 matches, just four goals – hit back by admitting that, yes, most of what he had been accused of was true. But also, you know, sod it, starting with recollections of turning up more than a stone overweight. “Now that I’m at Madrid, this is perhaps the last vacation I’ll be able to take,” he cooed. “And I let go of myself like I let go of myself every summer. Seven years in England, without a break at Christmas, giving everything, so when I have three or four weeks of vacation, ‘don’t bother me’, barbecues, rosé wine … all that.” Sounds like 5pm on a Friday for Football Daily.

Hazard went on to speak for the little man inside the bigger one, saying: “I like to eat and drink with my friends. Dieting is bull [snip – Football Daily Bad Word Ed], it doesn’t work. If you want to play until you’re 40, then OK. But I knew I wouldn’t be like that. I always have some champagne in my fridge.” Not for Hazard the afterlife that greets football’s elite: Saudi Arabia, MLS, annoying locals by not playing in lucrative friendlies. “Leave me with my friends, we go home, play cards, have a beer,” he roared, adding a kiss-off to his most famous teammate. “Cristiano [Ronaldo] is a bigger player than me but, in terms of pure football, I honestly don’t think [he’s better].” Using a beer/burger weighting, Hackney Marshes value system, it’s difficult to refute that purity rating.

Join Scott Murray from 7.45pm GMT for hot FA Cup fourth-round replay coverage of Plymouth Argyle 1-3 Leeds United.

“We had an open-door training session. I went out because there was such a big crowd and there was a clinic with the kids, and I wanted to be there and participate. But the truth is the discomfort was still there and it was very difficult to play. I can understand people were looking forward to it … For tomorrow, I don’t know, we’ll need to see how it goes in training. We still don’t know if I would be able to or not, but I feel much better than I did a few days ago and really want to play” – after incurring the wrath of fans in Hong Kong with his no-show for Inter Miami’s friendly, Lionel Messi opens the possibility of turning out in the next stop of their pre-season circus against Vissel Kobe.

I see that New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium has been chosen for the 2026 World Cup final (and the inevitable and elaborate closing ceremony that this entails). The stadium is just seven miles from downtown Manhattan, where the stars keep their fancy apartments. So if Diana Ross needs a penalty coach, I’d like to let her know that I’m available to travel up from Philadelphia from Mondays through to Fridays, and that it’s never too soon to start practising” – Justin Kavanagh.

Can I admit to being one of the woefully misguided West Ham supporters who TV pundits so righteously enjoy chastising for our ingratitude and entitlement whenever there are any reservations expressed about Moyesausaurus? ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ they sagely advise us. Even we poor fools who follow every excruciating minute realise that, in the words of the great man himself, a club like West Ham cannot expect to compete with the resources of Newcastle and … (ahem) Aston Villa, but losing 3-0 (and the fabled sixth place) to a barebones outfit like Manchester United really stings. Looking ahead, perhaps a two-year extension will give the Chosen One and Kevin ‘iPad’ Nolan the opportunity to finally burst all our pretty bubbles and show us that we had in fact been living the dream, even reaching the Sky (Super Sunday). Time to fade and die?” – Brian Withington.

Oh come on, we all know that the phrase ‘he really is’ (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) originates with Timperley’s finest, Frank Sidebottom. After an exhaustive search of YouTube (30 minutes), the closest I can get is this. But Frank fans will know” – Colin Sharples.

Re: Memory Lane (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition). How nice to see a good, old-fashioned goal actually inserted into the ground. What’s with the current fashion whereby the goals aren’t even properly attached so that when a screamer goes in, the back of the goal lifts off the ground? I can’t wait for the day when an absolute thunderbolt (preferably from any Bournemouth player) tips the whole frame over” – Alan Mannings.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Brian Withington, who lands a copy of The Social One: why Jürgen Klopp was the perfect fit for Liverpool, published by Pitch Publishing. Visit their football book store here.

We’re still following Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup after the Pilgrims came away from Elland Road with a 1-1 draw in the fourth round to force a replay. That irked Leeds boss Daniel Farke somewhat because if there’s one thing a promotion-chasing manager doesn’t want midweek in mid-winter, it’s a 642-mile round trip to Devon, just days after a 414-mile round trip to Bristol. Curse those M5 roadworks! “I would have preferred to be a bit more effective in the first game because then we wouldn’t have to travel that long,” harrumphed Farke, while updating the Waze app on his mobile. Both sides are unbeaten in 2024 so something has to give. Leeds’ form is the more impressive, mind. They’ve won six and drawn just once (against Argyle) in their last seven. The Pilgrims have selection bother for this replay, so may need the assistance of a tailback taking the zip out of the visiting players’ bodies and minds if they want to keep their run going.

It’s David Squires on … a day in the life of Chris Wilder, the other Earl of Sandwich.

In the latest edition of our now-twice-weekly sister email, Anita Asante offers a word or 930 about “the extraordinary and energy-sapping jobs managers and head coaches do”.

Sevilla winger Lucas Ocampos wants La Liga to take action after a Rayo Vallecano fan appeared to touch him inappropriately as he prepared to take a throw-in during their 2-1 away win. “You can see what happened in the [video] images,” said Ocampos. “I hope La Liga takes it as seriously as it takes racism and these things. I don’t think all the Rayo people are like that because they have always treated us with respect, but there is always one fool.”

Iran midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi isn’t best pleased that the AFC has appointed Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Ali as referee for their Asian Cup semi-final with Qatar. “We’re just wondering how it’s possible that they put an Arab as a referee for tomorrow’s match,” said Ezatolahi. “But we are the Iran national team, we are a very big team. We have a very good players, we are professional.”

Sávio, the Brazilian winger whose registration is held by Ligue 2 club Troyes and who is currently on loan with La Liga high-flyers Girona, has agreed a deal to join Manchester City in the summer. There’s definitely a certain football group that rings a bell about those three clubs …

The draw for the last eight of Women’s Big Cup is in, in, in, with Chelsea taking on Ajax and then potentially facing Barcelona in the semis.

Port Vale, one spot above the League One relegation zone, have given manager Andy Crosby a guided tour of their door marked Do One.

And [EDM continues] Sunderland ‘Til I Die is back for a third season on Netflix, available from next Wednesday, featuring their quest to get out of League One. No spoilers, please.

The 2026 World Cup final is in … New Jersey? A brief guide to the MetLife Stadium.

And as if Manchester City were not fearsome enough, Phil Foden gave a reminder of the weapons at their disposal against Brentford.

Czechoslovakia keeper Rudolf Klakpa watches an early penalty from Robert Coppée fly past him into the net as Belgium took a lead they would never relinquish during the 1920 Olympic men’s football final in Antwerp.

Henri Larnoe added a second in the first half and the Belgians would go on to claim a 2-0 victory and the gold that came with it. But that was only the half of it. As Scott Murray recalled in this Joy of Six:

Czechoslovakia walked off, incensed that three major decisions had gone against them. They accused the British referee John Lewis of making ‘distorted’ and ‘incorrect’ calls, suggesting he was biased against them as a result of a recent game he had refereed in Prague, which had ended with the whistler being attacked by the crowd. The fact that Lewis was 72 – he had been a member of the first-ever Blackburn Rovers team – and had latterly become notorious for struggling to keep up with play probably didn’t help matters too much. Belgium were awarded the gold medal, but with the Czechs disqualified after their appeal to have the final replayed failed, a consolation tournament was staged to decide silver and bronze. Even that would prove to be controversial as the losing semi-finalists France had already gone home and could not compete, so their place was taken by Spain – who ended up taking silver. The Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora celebrated by smuggling a ludicrous number of Havana cigars under his seat on the train taking him home. He was arrested, caught red-handed when, unable to resist temptation, he hung his head out of the window and started sucking his contraband down.