Hazard has no place

From star to headache. Eden Hazard (La Louviere, 30 years old) made his debut in suspense in the Spanish Super Cup with Real Madrid. Signed in 2019 as a great shock after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2018, the Belgian has barely participated in 32 matches with the white jersey, and in just a couple of them he left signs of his quality. This campaign started from scratch … and it continues with zero in January: a goal against Huesca in October, another from a penalty at San Siro … but no trace of Hazard who marveled at the World Cup in Russia with Belgium, or at the conquest of the Europa League with Chelsea in 2019. Against Athletic the anodyne version of the seven madridista: no influence on the game, unable to generate dangerous situations (just a ball pass to the heart of the rival area that Asensio crashed with virulence on Unai Simón's post), bland and with a tendency to disappear from the pitch with each passing minute.

It was the fourth time that Zidane lined up the trident that sounds best at the moment for the white attack: Asensio from the right, Benzema as the spearhead, and Hazard entering from the left flank. He had already done it against Huesca (4-1), Inter (3-2) and Osasuna (0-0). Two wins and a draw, precisely in the last league match that the whites played. It was also the Belgian's first title after overcoming the umpteenth injury, another curse that has haunted him since he joined the Madrid team. He could be defended for that. However, Eden is going from bad to worse. If before the Navarrese team it was seen that he was not at one hundred percent of his capacity (rather 65%), the match against the rojiblancos again left a worrying face of the white player: at 12 minutes, he received a ball from Casemiro inside the area, but it is not known very well what he wanted to do: if he shot (only one shot of his in 67 minutes of the game), endure to force a penalty that never came … was a constant: wanted and could not (or did not know), he choked when facing (Who knows if he still has respect for the injury that his compatriot Meunier caused him in December 2019 and that seems to drag psychologically since then …). The bad thing is that he begins to repeat performances of that spirit… And the rumor that he does not deserve to be a starter begins to run through the cliques of Madrid fans.

However, his coaches Zinedine Zidane in Madrid, and Roberto Martínez in the Belgian team maintain the faith that the good Hazard will return. First He defended him yesterday at the press conference after the Malaga match: “He must regain confidence, play a good game, score a goal, something different. We know the player he is and you have to be patient, but he is working. We are with him, we must be patient. The team has tried, we started badly and we have to turn the page and think about what we do. We must continue our business, in good times and in bad: keep working to get it done. I think what people want is to see the best version of Eden. We are with him, he wants to move this forward ”.

And in those he is: against Osasuna he placed him in his usual position, entering on the left wing, but between the bad state of the pitch, the mentality with which the team came out (thinking more about everything that had happened around the game, forgetting that they had to play it), and the usual from more to less of the Belgian, Hazard left his position to Mariano with 15 minutes remaining. Against Athletic, Zidane drew an asymmetrical eleven. With Eden starting on the right wing of the attack to later focus his position more in search of a more fluid interior game with Benzema, leaving the entire band for Lucas Vázquez. The blocking of Dani García and Vencedor on Modric, added to the first goal by Raúl García, caused Madrid to return to its early season plan after 20 minutes: Asensio on the right, and Eden on the left. Your statistics were not bad (six losses compensated with four recoveries, with 29 of 33 correct passes in the opposite field), but they do not reflect the little presence (and influence) of Hazard in the party. It's another loose cannon. Now he has ten days to continue working before the meeting on Saturday 23 in Vitoria against Alavés (he will surely not travel to Alicante to face Alcoyano on Wednesday 20 in the first match of this edition of the Cup). Madrid awaits him and there is no time. Eden also has no place for now. You're looking for it, but you need to earn it: With performances like against Osasuna or against Athletic, no short-term solution is seen …