To measure the pleasure Eden Hazard takes on the pitch, you have to look at the actions he initiates, or in which he is involved.
The Red Devil loves to tease the ball, accelerate, surprise his opponent, or make a backheel, like the one he delivered to Michy Batshuayi at the start of the match, for a goal finally canceled for offside. He had missed what seemed inevitable two minutes before, a shot placed wide. “Eden Hazard spitting”he smiled. “I thought the ball was already in, but it wasn’t.”
The sign also of a player who still has to find his bearings, after a trying season.
Without playing time, or too little, at Real Madrid, Eden Hazard was a suffering player, in his flesh and in his head. At the start of the rally, he explained that next season was starting a bit with these Nations League matches.
The one against Poland was reassuring, in intentions, the vista, intact, and from a physical point of view, too. He had played half time against the Netherlands, he played a little over an hour against the Poles.
“I say it often, I need to have minutes, to re find the rhythm. The more I go on, the less I will worry. When the legs react well, I can continue.”
How long will he play in the next two games, in Wales on Saturday and then in Poland next week? “He will be involved”assured Roberto Martinez, happy to see an Eden “refreshed”. “I found him well, very involved. He has no pain, and it’s been a long time. Now he has to go through the stages”.
The Brainois considers himself in good shape, quantifying in passing: “I’m not 100% yet, but slowly it will happen. Let’s say I’m 80%, and I still have a small margin.”
Confident, the captain of the selection even dropped: “We saw remnants of the old Eden, I’m going to be the player I was again.” He only missed one goal, in the end, and he could therefore have come on this action at the start of the match. He added, still greedy: “If I had been fairer, I would have scored three goals.”
One would have been enough. But the most important thing is that Eden Hazard found his legs, had fun and entertained the stadium a bit, which he also likes. Roberto Martinez, to conclude: “It’s the first time he’s been so happy in a long time.”
