Hazard asks for help

Eden Hazard will arrive at the Classic. The Belgian was able to complete Thursday’s training session without any problems and, if nothing changes at the last minute, will be at the disposal of Carlo Ancelotti to enter the squad on Sunday at the Camp Nou. Hazard returned from the national team break with physical problems, due to a muscular overload that prevented him from playing the duel for third and fourth place in the Nations League Final Four. Those muscular problems did not allow him to travel to Kiev for the match against Shakhtar, But in Madrid there was always the conviction that he would reach the Classic and everything indicates that that wish will be fulfilled.

Injuries appear to be giving Hazard some breathing space this season. They continue to give you problems, but to a lesser extent than in previous courses: he was able to start the official season without problems and on Sunday he will be available for the Classic for the first time; He couldn’t play any of the first four since landing at Madrid. He still does not show the version that the white team expects of him, but at least he improves his percentage of attendances. An advance in which Antonio Pintus’s white medical team and physical preparation have merit.

But not exclusively, Hazard also relies a lot on the advice and treatment of Lieven Maesschalck, physiotherapist and head of the medical staff of the Belgian Football Federation. He has been working with Hazard since his inception with the national team, back in 2008, and the player has shown his predilection for him several times in the past. Without going any further, after being released in the last break, Instead of returning to Madrid, he went to Tubize, in his country, to treat himself with the Belgian medical corps under the supervision of Maesschalck.

At Real Madrid they gave the go-ahead to that stay in Belgium to start recovering the overload, as well as the medical tests sent from the Federation, in which a muscle tear was ruled out. Although this was not always the case, during the 2020-21 season there was an intense debate around Hazard in which the Belgian medical team and Real Madrid thought differently.

Tension between Madrid and Belgium

Back in March, Hazard again fell muscularly injured and from Belgium pressured him to go through the operating room again, to try to repair what was wrong with his right ankle (of which he has already been operated twice and in which he has one fixed titanium plate); in Madrid they refused to such an extent that Belgium was especially interested because it guaranteed Hazard’s presence in the European Championship, although he ended his campaign with the white club. Finally, the vision of the club prevailed, which the footballer respected.

And during the Eurocup in the summer of 2021, tensions returned. Maesschalck reported smoothly on the physical problems suffered by the Belgian players … except in the case of Eden Hazard. When asked by the madridista, he diverted attention: “Ask Eden.” AND constant criticism leaked from the Red Devils team to the Madrid medical team, especially their boss, the Croatian Niko Mihic, and also the white physical examiner, Grégory Dupont.