Eden Hazard is close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in which injuries have plunged his talent. The Belgian player has been affected by various ailments since his arrival in Madrid, but he seems not to give up. Two seasons later, the best Eden Hazard in white has yet to be seen, but it seems that he is determined to achieve it and, according to his coach Roberto Martínez, he is closer than ever.
“That Eden wanted to come here (Belarus), that he wanted to travel so far, knowing that he could not play the 90 minutes, shows that Eden is back, at all levels! You are mentally prepared. He is happy and has no pain. Enjoy again, “said the Spanish coach.
After not exceeding 70 minutes in any of the three League matches (66 against Alavés, 59 against Levante, 12 against Betis), Martínez has given more weight to the winger by starting him against Estonia and the Czech Republic, being substituted in 74 and 73 respectively. In these meetings he gave a good image. Against Estonia he distributed an assist and against the Czechs he scored a goal. The 10 of the 'red devils' received a luxury heel from Vanaken, controlled the front and was agile with the ball to overcome the two Czech defenders and beat Vaclik with a soft touch with the toe. His performance, on a general level, earned him more praise from Martínez. “Against the Czech Republic, I saw the best Eden since November 2019, “he said. In that break he had an excellent performance in a 4-1 win over Russia with two goals and one assist as well as another goal pass in the bulky victory against Cyprus. Now, he seems to be back on his best path. So much so that he played three games in a row with three days off in between and was up to half an hour against Belarus, a detail that the coach thanked.
Roberto Martínez also dared with a more than positive forecast for the La Louvère winger. “Eden is ready to make a big impact in the weeks and months to come,” he said after the 1-0 win over Belarus.
A new opportunity “to demonstrate”
“I signed for Madrid for five years and the first two have not been good, partly due to injuries. But I have three left to show how I am and I hope that happens. They paid a lot of money for me and I want to give them something,” said Hazard days ago in HNL. Those three years pass week by week and it will be those “daily” opportunities that Hazard will have to take advantage of to claim and “impact” as his coach anticipates.
This season, and given that he was coming from the Eurocup, he was physically ready for the start of the season, but Vinicius appeared in a state of grace (goal against Alavés and double against Levante) to take over the title. Now, the FIFA date gives Hazard a chance. In addition to the number of kilometers accumulated between trips, the calendar does not favor the Brazilian. He played 45 minutes against Chile, did not accumulate fatigue before the suspension of the match against Argentina, but he still has a match against Peru in the early hours of Thursday to Friday and the return to the capital.
Hazard, with his selection break finished satisfactorily and with more rest than Vinicius, aims to start against Celta in the return to the Santiago Bernabéu. An opportunity to demonstrate and that happiness on the green becomes goals and assists with the 7 of Real Madrid behind him. The three-year term runs and, according to Martínez, it is time for the best Hazard.