Eden Hazard is with Belgium, an ecosystem in which the Real Madrid attacker feels safe to continue growing and trying to reach the level he wore before signing for Real Madrid. In the previous national team break, Belgium was a balm for Hazard, allowing him to add quality minutes and establish himself physically, avoiding the recurring injuries. And the same is expected to happen in this break, after a start to the year at Madrid in which things have not finished for him.
Hazard accumulates just 382 minutes so far this season, played over eight games, of which he has started five times. He does not add any goals, just one assist to Benzema in the league debut (in Mendizorroza against Alavés, 1-4) and Carlo Ancelotti has already made it clear that he has strong competition: he was not a starter against Inter in the Champions League or in the three last days of the League, against Mallorca, Villarreal and Espanyol.
Roberto Martínez and Hazard.
AFP
“Giving Hazard two games in a row is a bit complicated. Honestly, he's not at his level, at the level we all want,” Ancelotti commented after visiting Inter., in which he was a surprising substitute and did not play for a minute; Rodrygo was chosen to revolutionize the duel and he did, with a saving goal in the final minutes. Days later, asked why the Belgian was lacking to truly shine, Carletto was sincere: “Goal.” The Italian is testing a new playmaker role with Hazard, in which he can have a lot of impact on the game, in view of the fact that he has lost speed and dribbling on the wings, but Ancelotti needs that performance to be accompanied by goals on the white scoreboard, and for the moment they have not arrived.
They have not arrived with Madrid, but with the Hazard team, he already left some very good details in the last national team break: goal and assistance in two games as a starter, against Estonia and the Czech Republic; He was a substitute against Belarus and was seen little in the half hour he had. With his lifelong friends in Belgium, Hazard is looking for the continuity he needs, and he is finding it: for the moment he has been avoiding the injuries that gave him so much war in the future. But in Madrid he suffers to prevail in the eleven: despite the fact that Bale is injured and will not return until the beginning of NovemberAt the earliest, at the moment it seems that Rodrygo and even Asensio win the game in Ancelotti's head.
Roberto Martínez believes in Hazard
But in Belgium he knows that he has a Praetorian guard who will defend his interests tooth and nail, starting with his coach, Roberto Martínez. In his interview with AS, the technician repeated what he has been pointing out almost like a mantra: “Eden has had a very tough two years. Sometimes you look for reasons for this and there just aren't. We analyze it from another perspective. I have seen Hazard win the league in France, the Premier with two different projects, mark differences in the overflow and the one against one, shine technically in a league as physical as the English one … And then, at the national team level, Hazard is unique. It's a shame not to have seen Eden happy or playing more in the last two years. He is very calm. He gives normality to everything, he also has a character that makes him get up quickly. On a human level you can trust Eden and on a football level there is no debate. It is a matter of time before we see the best version of Hazard in Spain “.
That is what Martínez hopes and that is what Madrid expects, which will analyze in detail the matches of the Belgian with his team in this break, hoping that there are no injuries awaiting him on the way and also that he can shine in a stage as lucid as the final phase of the League Nations: dispute the semifinals against France this Thursday, in Turin. If he wins, on Sunday the 10th the final would await him, against Spain; if he loses, third and fourth place against Italy.