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On June 13, 2019, Eden Hazard was presented as a new player of the Real Madrid in an almost crowded Santiago Bernabéu. The white fans had a new fetish footballer to cling to after Cristiano's departure in 2018 and, above all, after the difficult season carried out: the 2018-19 campaign saw three tenants go through the bench and how, in a fateful week in March, the whites lost their options in three competitions such as the League, the Cup (put out of action by Barcelona) and the Champions League (Ajax caused him a very painful defeat at the Bernabéu stadium).
Around 50,000 people attended his presentation
But as the long-winded Spanish proverb states, 'eve of much, days of nothing'. Hazard's arrival was not what was expected. The Belgian arrived between cottons: he did not play the first three days. However, he was a star called to throw the team on his back in difficult moments. There was no need to lose faith. And his time has come. After 114 days in white, wearing the 7 on his back and at home, in the same Santiago Bernabéu stadium that welcomed him with affection, joy, smiles and illusions of children and adults. That day, October 5, 2019, Hazard would score his first goal for white in an official match. It was against Granada on October 5, 2019. After five games, Hazard took his paw for a walk and was able to do it before the eyes of his audience. It was just before the break and it was 2-0 (Madrid ended up winning 4-2). Valverde recovered a ball that he himself had lost and handed the ball to the Belgian with a filtered pass. Eden made a long control and finished with a subtle touch to pass Rui Silva. He would be replaced by Isco in 69 'while the Bernabéu applauded him. The sun was rising for La Louvière.
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This is how he scored his first and only official goal for Madrid.
Jesús Rubio (Diario AS)
But today, 365 days later, we know that it was also the last and the only … for the moment. That autumn afternoon, at the beginning of October, Real Madrid felt that certain doubts and misgivings about their signing were beginning to dissipate. The problem is that star instead of shining, it faded.
That performance, which he painted as a starting gun, ended up being more of a shot on his own foot. Because that afternoon the expectations about his signing, already high, were raised. He came from winning the Silver Ball of the World Cup in Russia, lagging behind Modric; and he wore nothing more and nothing less than the number 7, a magic number in the white story on his back: Kopa, Juanito, Butragueño, Raúl, Cristiano … The list of players who had worn that number belongs to the sacrosanct Madridista liturgy. But it was Hazard. Zidane had no doubts: if the Belgian was good, he would play. For the technician there was no debate and he quickly settled the questions that were asked in a press conference, wrapping him up and alluding to a period of time to adapt, both to the team and to the city. Both he and his family. Something logical on the other hand.
He has not played a full match in white for 317 days
Today, a year after that goal against Granada, yes there is some debate and rumor about his figure. The adaptation is castling. And in a bad way: Eden has played 1,545 minutes with Real Madrid spread over 22 games (six in the Champions League and 16 in the League). He has provided seven assists, received only one yellow, no red … And scored one goal. In total there are 1,172 minutes played since October 5 and 16 different games, including the Champions League second leg against City, played in August. Madrid played 51 matches between all competitions …
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Eden Hazard, during her presentation.
Eduardo Candel Reviejo (Diario AS)
Hazard has only played four full games. Of the remaining 18, in two he entered the field from the bench and in 16 he was substituted, many times by technical decision, to give him rest; others due to injury. In the Champions League he played six games and only completed one, the draw at home (2-2) against Bruges. In the League he has started 14 times, being relieved in 11. Only against Leganés (5-0), Betis (0-0) and Real Sociedad (3-1) did he play the 90 '. Since the latter, on November 23, 2019 (matchday 14), he has not played a full match with Real Madrid. That was 317 days ago.
In league average 1.2 shots on target and three dribbles per game. In addition, he receives three fouls and never falls offside (his ratio of illegal positions is 0.1 per game). The really worrying figure is his scoring ratio in Madrid: 0.05 goals per game, one every 1,545 ', for now. Gives one assist every three games. The numbers, very far from those expected, require a reaction to match.
Hazard had never spent so much time in the Nursing as in Madrid. The white club detected him on the day of the match against Valladolid (six days ago), a muscle injury in his right leg, being the seventh since your arrival. The first was in August 2019: suffered thigh discomfort and he missed the first three league games, against Celta, Valladolid and Villarreal. A few months later, already in November, the ankle problems began.
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The Belgian suffered in the Ciutat de Valencia.
NurPhoto (Getty Images)
A hard blow from Meunier, in the Champions League game against PSG, caused him a perimalleolar contusion that took him 8 days off the pitch. Just when he returned, he felt pain again and they detected a fissure, a much more serious and delicate matter, because it left him in the dry dock for 67 days and made him miss 17 games. He would return in February, reappearing at home against Celta, but after two games he was injured again and was out of the call in the first leg against City.
A blow from Meunier made his ankle brittle
This time he suffered a fissure in fibula, retiring early in the Ciutat de Valencia: they played 76 days out. After the defeat against Betis on March 8, football (and the world) stopped because of the pandemic. Locked up at home, he worked to recover and come back stronger. The quarantine and the suspension of sporting events meant that he only missed three games due to this injury and when everything returned, on June 14, so did he. He started at home against Eibar, but failed to break his face-to-door drought throughout the final stretch of the season.
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Doctors accompany Hazard around the band after injuring himself.
Javier Gandul (AS Newspaper)
At the end of June he suffered a Hard hit that made him miss two games (Getafe and Athletic) and at the beginning of September, already starting a new campaign, a trauma for which he could not play the first two games (Real Sociedad and Betis). He returned to a call against Valladolid and just when the darkness seemed to dissipate, everything became opaque: that same day they detected a Right leg injury, his seventh since arriving at Madrid. In total, 30 games have already been lost due to “force majeure”. In seven years at Chelsea he had only missed 20 due to injury.
The 2009-10 season was his explosion as a footballer. He was active in the Lille, where little by little it happened from promise to leader. That season he played 52 games, scored 10 goals and distributed 13 assists, playing the Europa League and finishing fourth in Ligue 1 ahead of PSG, Monaco and Rennes, among others. In 2011-12 he raised the stakes: he scored 22 goals and gave 22 assists in 49 games, even playing the Champions League with Rudi García's Lille (current Lyon coach).
It would be a year later, in 2012-13, when Chelsea would bid hard for him signing him in exchange for 35 million. In his first year in London he played 62 games spread over up to eight different competitions (Premier, Europa League -champion-, Champions, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Club World Cup, European Super Cup and Community Shield). He scored 13 goals and gave 24 assists. But they are not his best numbers.
Yes, those of the 2018-19 season, just a year before arriving at the Bernabéu. That season scored 21 goals in England and provided 17 assists. He was the leader of the blues, a total footballer whose pulse did not tremble to throw the team on his back. A reflection of this is that he said goodbye by raising his Europa League after beating Arsenal in the final (4-2) with a double of theirs.
There is no doubt that the generation of football that Belgium has at the moment may be the most talented in its history. The Courtois, De Bruyne, Lukaku or Mertens find their icing in Hazard's talent and the 2018 World Cup was an example. The share of seeing Roberto Martínez's soldiers lifting the trophy every day was lower and his football, the best argument. They fell into semifinals by the minimum against the champion, France. But the image was enviable.
In the World Cup in Russia he scored three goals
Also that of Hazard, who left with him Silver Ball, credited as the second best player of the tournament. In Russia he played 518 minutes in which he scored three goals and gave two assists, always leading the captain armband and only missing the third game of the group stage against England (his team won 1-0). He finished third after winning the match for third and fourth place, precisely, against the English (2-0).
With Belgium he has been international in practically all categories. He rose from the U-15 to making his debut with the senior team at the age of 17. The coach was René Vandereycken. Today he is the second most capped player in his country's history (106), behind only Vertonghen (118). In addition, he has scored 32 goals, being the second highest scorer in history behind Lukaku (52).
Both Mariano and Hazard, the two who have carried that number, have not been able to maintain the regularity while they carried it. Since Cristiano Ronaldo left, no one has shone with the white 7 on their back and the theory of the curse is gaining strength. The Portuguese left leaving the bar high and some dizzying figures: 450 goals in 438 games, being the 19th footballer with the most participations in the history of the Madrid, averaging a goal every 84 minutes and being a leader.
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Zidane comforts Hazard by changing him at the Etihad in the 83rd minute.
Peter Powell (Reuters)
The 100 million that the club put on the table are still waiting for a justification in the Belgian's boots, which for now he has only scored one goal for white. It was on October 5, 2019 against Granada, 365 days ago, to pass from Valverde. Since then the counter has not moved. This season finds its revalidation, a new opportunity to make a clean slate. Who knows if the last one. Madrid does not offer many bullets.