Eden Hazard celebrates the goal he scored against Celtic. /
Analysis
The Belgian’s good performance against Celtic offers hopeful signs for Real Madrid, who will have the ‘9’ in the infirmary until the return of the national team break
Real Madrid continues to accumulate encouraging news in the uncorking of the season. The European champion returned from his visit to Glasgow with a resounding victory against the gallant Celtic under his arm, celebrating Hazard’s good performance as a false nine after Ancelotti called up the Belgian due to Benzema’s physical mishap and, hours later After landing in the capital of Spain, he was relieved to a certain extent to learn that the medical tests to which the captain and maximum reference of the fourteen-time king of the Old Continent was subjected this Wednesday ruled out a dramatic scenario.
The man from Lyon suffers an injury to the semitendinosus muscle and an overload in the quadriceps of the right thigh that will keep him out for about three weeks, but the meniscus in his knee is not affected, which was the great fear of his club. If the deadlines are met, Bron’s striker will miss the league matches against Mallorca and Atlético, as well as the Champions League duel against Leipzig at the Santiago Bernabéu. He will also not be able to participate in the last two commitments of the French team in the League of Nations. The goal is for him to reappear after the national team break.
Benzema felt pain in his right leg when he started a counterattack at Celtic Park when the first half hour of the game had not yet been completed. The Frenchman stopped dead and, although he tried and tried to continue on the grass, he immediately requested the change while long faces emerged among his teammates. Relieved by Hazard, he was explored ‘in situ’ by the doctors and, after Real Madrid finished off Celtic in an overwhelming second half for the Whites, he left the Scottish venue visibly unsettled. “We’ll see tomorrow,” replied the attacker when asked about his sensations. “It doesn’t seem to be worrying at all, but we have to wait for the tests,” Ancelotti corroborated, to whom the ‘killer”s medical report leaves a little calmer.
Karim Benzema, after being injured against Celtic. /
According to what was seen at Celtic Park, it is possible that the Reggiolo coach will continue to give Hazard a reel while Benzema remains in the dry dock, because the Belgian fulfilled his mark as a lying striker. Participating in the first two goals with which Real Madrid overcame the push of the Bhoys, he put the icing on the cake by signing a liberating target. In the first half he had wasted a great cross from Carvajal with a bad shot, but in the second period, again at the side’s service, he retaliated with a goal that can serve as leverage when it comes to fulfilling the promise he made during the celebration of the last Champions.
pending promise
“Next year I’m going to give everything for you”, proclaimed the footballer from La Louvière last May after grabbing the microphone to address a disenchanted fan by the very weak performance that the ‘7’ offered during his first three campaigns in Chamartín . Aware that he had an outstanding debt with the white parish due to the expectations raised by his signing and with the club, which disbursed more than one hundred million euros in the summer of 2019 to get him out of Stamford Bridge and maintains him as the highest paid footballer in the squad in the absence of offers, Hazard returned from vacation much finer and received from Ancelotti a novel mission in his long career as an elite footballer: to be the replacement for Benzema when the Frenchman was not available or the coach chose to give truce to the forward veteran.
The absence of a natural replacement for the French striker after Jovic’s departure to Fiorentina and Ancelotti’s absolute lack of confidence in Mariano, added to the ownership by Vinicius of the left flank of the offensive trident and the doubts that his fit in a right flank that seems strange to him and in which Valverde and Rodrygo share the minutes, led Ancelotti to place the Belgian as a false nine in the preseason. The trials were not encouraging, but Hazard did offer green shoots at Celtic Park.
Although he lacks the electricity that made him an emblem of the Premier for a decade and Rodrygo has more of a nose inside the area, the quality of the Belgian is unquestionable and he has enough resources to emulate some of Benzema’s virtues when it comes to greasing the attack. Apart from his goal and his collaboration in the goals sealed by Vinicius and Modric, Hazard’s performance at Celtic Park is worth noting, his efficiency in passing (93.9% success) and the good in tune with their peers.
“He has entered phenomenally today and hopefully he can continue like this,” praised Kroos. “He can’t play as a typical center forward, but he can move and help possession. He cannot have a fixed position with the rival defenders, but that he moves helps us to get the ball out and also that way the rival defenses do not have a reference, “said Ancelotti, who stressed that he is an “important” player, despite the fact that until Tuesday he had only given him 39 minutes in the League.
