The captain of the Red Devils spent another 90 minutes on the bench during his team’s 1-3 victory in extremis on Sunday evening at Espanyol Barcelona.
For Real Madrid’s first four games of the season, Hazard played 32 minutes against Almeria, 7 minutes against Celta Vigo and that’s it. During the final of the UEFA Super Cup (which opposes the winner of the Champions League to the winner of the Europa League), the Belgian remained on the bench the whole game. Same scenario last night against Espanyol.
A situation that annoys both the player and his fans, especially since the 31-year-old has been back in shape since his operation last April.
Carlo Ancelotti and his beautiful words
However, match after match, the Casa Blanca coach repeats that he continues to count on Eden, that he is a great player, etc. Just yesterday, Ancelotti declared after the meeting that “Hazard has my full trust whether he plays or not“.
“He could have been an option, but I didn’t want to unbalance the match, knowing that I already had Rodrygo, Vinicius and Karim (Benzema). I thought that by adding a striker, it could have generated risk for us behind. But Hazard has my full confidence, whether he plays or not, whether he warms up or not. He will play. I am not the coach of Hazard, Mendy or anyone else. I’m the coach of Real Madrid, and I have to deal with everyone“, had justified the Italian.
“He will play,” he said, except that this kind of repeated talk usually remains at the stage of empty promises. It is also the whole art of the coach: knowing how to keep less used players involved.
Although he has always shown an exemplary mentality, Ancelotti does not consider that it has helped much, reports the Spanish newspaper Marca.
“Leaders expect next to nothing at this point. They consider the best version of the Belgian to have already passed and while they appreciate the attempt and the challenge he gave in public, they don’t expect any change.“, report our colleagues.
Hazard’s main problem at Real is actually Vinicius Jr’s very good form. The Brazilian exploded last season and occupies Eden’s favorite place on the pitch: starting on the left wing to look inside from the surface through the axis.
Too late to leave?
From the start, Eden has always ruled out the possibility of a departure from Real Madrid, including this summer when he returned to his legs. Marca argue that if the player was unwilling to listen to offers, “the truth is that they didn’t arrive either“.
While he certainly expected to have more playing time, Hazard will continue to have to settle for the few minutes that Carlo Ancelotti will give him.
In the meantime, the Italian will continue to say that Eden is a great guy, that he trains well… but that he is not his No. 1 choice.
Honestly, it’s hard to see how the situation could improve unless one of his teammates is injured. Which, of course, we don’t wish on anyone.
What about the world?
It is clear that if the situation remains as it is, Eden Hazard will fly to Doha looking more than fresh. Maybe even a little frozen. His presence in the selection is not even to be discussed, regardless of his playing time.
On the other hand, he will be lacking in rhythm and this could disrupt the plans of Roberto Martinez who cannot count on him to play an entire match (at least at the start of the competition).
If the biggest sports competition in the world (in terms of viewers) is in less than 100 days, it is still far enough away to be able to really know at the present time in what state of form our Devils will be.
For Eden, it is to be hoped that the frantic sequence of matches during these first months (Champions League matches are more condensed so that the group stage is over before the CDM) allows him to grab as much playing time as possible. Answer in a few weeks, on the antennas of RTL where the competition is broadcast.
