Real Madrid News
Eden Hazard shrugs off injury history amid lack of game-time: “Everything is back to normal”
Real Madrid’s investment in Eden Hazard has widely proven to be a disappointment, with the attacker struggling with a lack of form, injuries and seemingly reduced prominence in Carlo Ancelotti’s plans.
During his time at the club so far, Hazard has featured in only 72 competitive matches, scoring just seven goals in the process. To put things into perspective, he had scored 16 league goals during his last season at Chelsea.
Hazard’s failures at Santiago Bernabeu have cost the club dearly, though it appears the Whites have managed to recover their losses through the ascension of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.
Nevertheless, Hazard has recently opened up about his struggles with injuries, suggesting that the forward is back to ‘normal’ and his woes are unlikely to come back, at least for the time being.
“My injuries at Real Madrid? Now everything is back to normal,” said Hazard (h/t Madrid Xtra). The Belgian international, though, is hoping for a platform to showcase his skills rather than sitting on the bench most of the time.
“I only hope for one thing, to be able to show on the pitch that I’m still at the top, there’s not much more to say about it,” he added.
Hazard’s comments come in the midst of his struggles with game-time at Real Madrid. He has indeed fallen behind the likes of Vinicius, Rodygo and even Marco Asensio in the pecking order, having featured in only three league games so far this season.
Hazard does not appear to have any future left at Real Madrid either, especially as the Whites look to make way for new signings such as Endrick, with the Brazilian youngster keen on joining the Spanish giants in the near future.
In less than two weeks, Real Madrid will play hosts to Premier League giants Chelsea in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie at the Santiago Bernabeu.
It is a repeat of last season’s Champions League quarter-final, with the change being that the first leg was played at Stamford Bridge back then, which Real Madrid won triumphantly.
So, even though they lost the second leg 3-2, Los Merengues progressed on aggregate. At one point in the second leg, Real Madrid were 3-0 down and looked to be crashing out of the tournament.
But, that is not how the match played out as Luka Modric produced a moment of magic, sending in a stunning outside-of-the-boot pass for Rodrygo to guide home. That forced the match into extra time and Karim Benzema then scored to seal an aggregate win for his team.
Mateo Kovacic, a former Real Madrid midfielder, was on the losing side with Chelsea on that fateful night. And the Croatian has now spoken to Sportske Novosti, about that moment of magic from Modric last year as well as the prospect of facing Real Madrid again.
“We were good against Real Madrid last year, especially in Madrid. Then Modrić invented that trivela assist for Rodrygo… We have to be at 120% against them. They immediately punish every minor mistake. Although I repeat, we are also a difficult opponent for them, we showed it,“ Kovacic said.
On the prospect of facing his close friend and national teammate Modric, Kovacic added: “[laughs] how the draw arranges it… It won’t be easy for us because Real Madrid is always the most dangerous team in the Champions League.”
“It’s a strange feeling to have Modric as a rival. There were hard fouls last year because neither he nor I pull back. We will fight for sure. I play on the left, he’s on the right, we will see who wants what. But I wouldn’t like to hurt him,” he added.
Chelsea had met Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League during the 2020/21 campaign as well and had managed to eliminate them at the semi-final stages on their way to winning the title.
While the Blues have not been in the best of form this season, they have the star power and quality in their ranks to hurt Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti’s men must be at their best to get through to the next round.
