The choice may have surprised. Facing Inter, Eden Hazard remained glued to the bench for the ninety minutes this Wednesday. Thanks to a great Courtois, Real kept their heads above water for a large part of the meeting. But in the middle of the second half, the debates were balanced. And Carlo Ancelotti appointed Rodrygo to step into the game in the 66th minute. With certain success because the 20-year-old Brazilian opened the scoring at the end of the game on a good serve from the new recruit Camavinga. As the footballing saying goes: a coach who wins is always right. But how to understand this choice? Several factors can explain it.
1) A big blow against Celta
First of all, Eden Hazard suffered a killer tackle in the 5-2 win over Celta Vigo. This play happened in the 42nd minute. Officially, he was not hurt by this big shock. The Brainois was able to play more than an hour against the Galicians. After the meeting, Carlito had also affirmed that Eden “had been very good”. The good news is that today he is recovering from this kind of blow. Which was not always the case since his arrival at Real.
2) Caution
The most plausible explanation is that Hazard is now getting different treatment. The idea is not to take the slightest risk with him. Because he played 177 minutes out of 270 possible in less than a week with the Devils. And that he then played an hour a few days later against Celta. Which means that the Belgian has been used a lot. The Italian therefore bet on caution by leaving his player on the bench. All the more so with the various injuries he has experienced, he can no longer play all the matches. Or at least not yet.
3) Tactical choice
The third explanation could be tactical. Ancelotti had opted for Lucas Vazquez to start the meeting. Last year, with the many injuries including that of Carvajal, the training winger was posted a notch lower in the position of full-back. He had also had an excellent season. Faced with the Nerazzurri, the pure Madrilenian had found his post. The objective: to counter the rise of the very offensive Ivan Perisic. What had a relative success as the Madrilenians were mistreated for nearly an hour.
When the debates balanced, Ancelotti opted for an element of depth. A defensive blaster who can, with his speed, destabilize a block. Eden Hazard is a player who often starts from the left to enter the game. He has never been an overwhelming winger even if his talent could sometimes bring him to the right. Suddenly, the former coach of Everton bet on the South American nugget. As he explained after the meeting: “Eden Hazard is doing well. I thought about bringing him in in the second half, but Inter closed the game very well in the axis and I wanted to open the game from the sides, that’s why I opted for Rodrygo “.
This Sunday, the Madrilenians will face FC Valencia at Mestalia. The opportunity to see if Eden Hazard will start or not.
