The process of returning to normality, or to the new normality, the concept of fashion, He has had a name at Real Madrid, that of Eden Hazard (29 years old). The recovery of the Belgian is total and, As AS has learned, he feels ready to start against Eibar. The decision will depend on Zidane (there is a week of training and he has not communicated anything yet), but, if the last word were from the footballer, next Sunday at Di Stéfano (7:30 p.m.) it would be him and ten more. He is doing as well as he can in such a particular context: he only lacks, like the rest of the squad due to inactivity, the rhythm given by the games. And that's what you need: minutes to reach your peak and improve his current records, one goal and five assists.
This newspaper has been counting step by step Hazard's magnificent evolution, the greatest beneficiary of the break due to the coronavirus. His injury at the Ciutat de València on February 22 greatly worried Madrid, who saw a second mishap and almost consecutively in the same area endangered the presence of its great star in the remainder of the course. After a more variable € 100m investment last summer, the attacker's first season seemed doomed to disappointment over physical problems.
However, the break in the pandemic competition served Hazard as a lifeboat. On March 5 he was successfully operated on in Dallas for a fracture of the right distal fibula and, just a few days later, recently landed in Spain, he was informed in Valdebebas with his colleagues that the positive of Trey Thompkins, of the basketball section , required home quarantine for at least two weeks. That period was increased by decreeing the state of alarm, time used by Hazard to keep meeting deadlines.
The removal of the stitches and the examinations after the first two weeks, considered key by specialists to check progress after a surgical intervention such as his, they spread optimism. Everything was going great and on April 30 AS revealed two important steps in his rehabilitation: Hazard had not only started running, but also coming into contact with the ball in his house.
Bet on caution in Valdebebas
On Wednesday May 6, he went to Ciudad Real Madrid to undergo the coronavirus tests and the following Monday he returned to training. He soon exercised as one of the group, an unequivocal sign that he was on the right track. Immediately euphoria began to grow in all spheres of the club, from managers to fans, through the coaching staff and their colleagues, amazed at their potential.
Hazard, then, has changed the Eurocopa for the League. Eden and Belgium, as Roberto Martínez repeated, were betting that he would arrive at the national team tournament. On June 13 the Belgian Red Devils they should have played their first game of the group stage, against Russia in Saint Petersburg. Hazard was expected to start the match, and it could be this Sunday 14 against Eibar. That remains in the hands of Zidane, little given to risk and very supportive of reintegrating the injured little by little.
For that policy so assumed from inside doors in Valdebebas, it is suspicious that the French put, like Asensio, the Belgian at the beginning. For his first comeback, after a muscular setback in September, Zizou gave him 30 minutes to take flight for PSG, a strategy that Eden saw logical. Now he feels more prepared, but the proximity of the difficult visit of Valencia (June 18, 22:00) can feed Zizou's doubts … and It can convince you to dare the level offered by your crack in the sessions of this kind of preseason.
The Real Madrid calendar until the end of the League.
AS newspaper