Eden Hazard has stated that he wants to be on the same level of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

"I'm much younger than them. They have won things that I haven't," he said in an interview in February. "But I'm as good as they were at my age. If I want to be like them I need to win trophies."

One of the trophies he needs to win to be on that level is the Ballon d'Or. And he now has a chance to win it after being selected for the 23-man short list. But did he have the best year of his life?

Top Moment

How did Hazard land on this list? He did not have an overwhelming goal scoring spree in 2014. He did not win a single trophy in 2013-14 with Chelsea. And his World Cup campaign was far from great (more on that later). So what was the defining moment of Hazard's year? The one that put him on the list over the likes of Luis Suarez?

He did finish as Chelsea's top goal scorer with a solid 14 goals and seven assists in 35 Premier League matches. He was undeniably the team's top offensive player on a side that struggled to produce anything offensively. For his terrific work, he won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award and finished in second place behind Suarez for the PFA Player of the Year Award. He was voted Chelsea's Player of the Year as well.

And his form with Chelsea has only improved this season. The goals and assists are down (undeniably because Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas have taken over both categories), but he is doing things that he had not done before with greater effectiveness. He has more shots per game (3.5 in four games this year versus 2.1 last season) and is averaging more passes per game, as well (48.5 to 44). He also has an average of three key passes per game, up from 2.7 last year. As always, small sample sizes apply, but Hazard's play has been terrific in the short season.

His profile has grown so high that there are rumors about Real Madrid wanting to buy him.

Low Moment

That would be the World Cup.

After a brilliant 2013-14 season, many expected Hazard to lead Belgium on a deep World Cup run. The team not only had the horses to pull off the run but also had a relatively easy schedule moving forward.

Hazard was expected to be the man to lead the way. Instead, he was invisible. He had two assists in the tournament, but he did not score a single goal and averaged 1.4 shots per game. He averaged about 34 passes per game for Belgium. It was by no means a poor World Cup, but he was far from the leader one would want in a World Cup campaign.

Why He Could Win

He would need to start scoring a lot of goals to get past the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Why He Will Not Win

He is not a goal scorer on the level of Messi or Ronaldo. He did not win a World Cup trophy like the many German players on the pitch. He did not score game-winners in Cup finals like Gareth Bale did. He was not as stellar as James Rodriguez was in the World Cup. He does not even lead Chelsea in goals this season the way Diego Costa does (Costa also won a Club trophy last season). You get it.

Prediction

Hazard is actually a solid bet to finish 23rd out of 23. But he could definitely climb up the rankings in years to come. Who knows, some day he might actually win it like Messi or Ronaldo.