Hazard is the key

Hazard is the key to Real Madrid this season. At the club (both Zidane and the leaders) they think that the level of the Belgian will mark how far the team can go this season, especially in Europe. This is the campaign of the lack of signings at the Bernabéu due to the pandemic, although the white offices do not see it the same. Hazard is the reinforcement from last year.

To understand the importance that the Belgian can have, you have to analyze his career. What happened last season, the first in Madrid (one goal and seven assists in just 22 games), is the exception, not the rule. In fact, since he was promoted to the Lille first team (2008-09) he had never played so few games, not at the French club or later at Chelsea. Eleven seasons in which, not counting his first at Lille (35 games), he never lost 43 games played per year. The injuries have been something specific, not a factor that has weighed down his career. His case has nothing to do with players like Robben or Bale, who came to Madrid having suffered physical problems in the past.

In 2012-13, after four great seasons at Lille, he made the leap to Chelsea, where he established himself as one of the best footballers on the planet. Madrid signed him last summer, but if he has not been dressed in white for more years, it is because Maria Granovskaia, Abramovich's right-hand man, was always inflexible. Only when he was going to enter his last year of contract did he sit down to negotiate and despite this, Madrid had to exceed 100 million euros.

At Madrid, they take Hazard's last season at Chelsea as a reference, 2018-19. 21 goals and 17 assists in 52 games and voted best player in the Premier by the fans (something that a Chelsea player had not achieved since Lampard did in 2005) and also for the players.

In his seven campaigns as blue he only fell to less than ten goals (he made six) in 2015-16. In the other six he averaged 17.3 points per course. That is the true level of Hazard and what they expect in Madrid for the team to make a leap in the offensive section.