He returned to Betis with 13 exciting minutes, left half an hour in the first leg against Chelsea and was up to 72 on the green against Osasuna. Eden Hazard seemed ready for the most important date of the year: the reunion with his ex and Real Madrid dress.
Despite the work and confidence shown by Zinedine Zidane publicly both in the press room and by giving him a place in the once, Eden Hazard was not particularly fine on the pitch.
He left interesting flashes by taking an important yellow to Jorginho still 0-0 and he dared with a roulette in the pure Zizou style on the edge of the area when it was time to come back. Generated advantage, yes, but the play died shortly after. At the data level, he met the approval with a shot on goal, hit in half of the dribbles, 86% of passes well sent and winning more than half of his duels. His heat map, yes, suggests that I do not overstay the areas where it does the most damage. This sheds light on the match. The sensations were somewhat worse than the numbers.
Eden Hazard's heat map against Chelsea
In the international press, Eden Hazard comes out hit the exam with just over 4.3 on average among the main English newspapers plus the international ones. Those who tie with the lowest marks for the Belgian are The Guardian and L'Equipe, who place him a 3. “Lacking in confidence and form on his return to Stamford Bridge. One of his careers almost ended in a goal “writes the British newspaper. L'Equipe was the one that provided the longest diagnosis. “The support for Benzema's side hardly influenced the game. He was not coordinated with his colleagues. He appears to have gained muscle mass and does not improve his speed. Even so, it was difficult for him to resist the duels or even keep the ball. In the second half, his involvement and intensity improved, but he ran into Mendy in the only attempt of the match, “they explain.
Among those maintaining the suspense are the Telegraph and the Evening Standard. “He suffered in influencing the game against his old team. He did not look quite fit, to Chelsea's relief,” they write in the Telegraph.
From there, Eden passes scraping, but he passes. Now, the result does not exempt him from the lack of criticism from these newspapers. “Far from its best version,” adds the Daily Mail. “Not fit, not sharp, not involved, not a threat,” harshly sentenced The Independent in one of the fiercest criticisms. To that five the Gazetta dello Sport was added without doing too much blood. The highest note comes from The Times, which gave his performance a 6.
In AS, in the survey made to its readers about the individual performance of each player in this meeting, Hazard fails for 94% of the participants.
Beyond the green
Eden Hazard did not finish the game and was replaced by Rodrygo in the last change of the night made by Zidane. The Belgian ended up sitting in the Bridge stands and, when Orsato whistled the end, he came over to congratulate Zouma, Mendy and other former teammates at Chelsea. His laughter with his former wardrobe mates did not sit well with the white fans, who expressed themselves on social networks.
Several fans questioned whether “perhaps he played for Chelsea”, others asked for his sale and did not hesitate to express their anger at an attitude that they did not like too much. “Hazard does not care about Real Madrid”, they came to assure.