Hazard is back: fingers crossed

Fingers crossed: Hazard is back. It will be his tenth attempt por prove to Madrid what it cost. Since your arrival has suffered nine injuries, has passed 291 days out and 47 games have been lost. He played 43% of last season and 30% of this. In seven years at Chelsea he was only absent through injury in 20 games. And he scored 21 goals in the last season, a figure that he had not reached since his days in Lille. A great signing that evaporated in Madrid.

He played his best game in Eibar thirteen months ago, after a summer sabbatical. He would shine again against Real, then score two goals in two games for Belgium and would suffer a fibular fissure in the next, against PSG. He has not raised his head again. This season, two muscle injuries and the coronavirus have stopped him. So he has only played six games and scored two goals. Last week he began training with the group, but Zidane did not take him to Eibar. He knows he's on swampy ground there. “I need to play to get to my best level,” he said after the Inter game. His muscles only endured 28 more minutes, while from Belgium they blamed Madrid, unjustifiably, for having “pushed him to the limit”.

The fourteen essentials

Hazard is non-negotiable for Zidane. So today he will try to give you minutes in the second part. It is part of that inalienable half of the staff. The other half have disappeared and the data proves it. In the five games of the winning streak only fourteen players have started and nine have not played for a minute (the two substitute goalkeepers, Militao, Marcelo, Odriozola, Odegaard, Jovic, Mariano and Hazard himself).

Until this Alpine section, Zidane had never made fewer than three changes per game (he sold all five four times). Since the duel against Sevilla, on one occasion he made only one substitution, in two, a pair of them, and in another two, three. The difference between starters and substitutes is abysmal and it is difficult to know when the dynamics of repetitive lineups will break. Today he will not have Modric, touched after playing 26 games uninterruptedly (1,798 minutes) in 74 days. A very notable loss that will cover another praetorian, Valverde. Isco and Vinicius also return to the list, this one with great possibilities of regaining ownership. And in the center of the arena Benzema, who has participated in 60% of Madrid's goals in this League.

Soldier, known enemy

And since the danger does not stop, visit Valdebebas the best Pomegranate always, also with a good beating on top. Supports 23 games in 94 days, more than any other team in Spain, but he takes it well. A bad month passed, in which he added four of his five defeats, but he comes to Madrid after three consecutive victories and a revealing fact: he has not conceded a goal in the last four games (follow the game live on As.com).

He finished seventh last year and is now sixth, which speaks of a solid project. His historic qualification for Europe led him to spend 20 million on reinforcements and things are going. Today he will have two notable casualties: the injured Machís, his second scorer and a top scorer, and the suspended Gonalons. Puertas and Ezeki target substitutes. And Soldado will repeat on point, whom Del Bosque brought from the Don Bosco School in Valencia at the age of 14. He spent nine in Madrid with brutal scoring records in the lower categories. The best of his professional career he did outside and at 35 he continues to score goals. It is in their nature.