Roberto Martínez: “We are not going to take any risk with Hazard”

He Belgium soccer coach, the Spanish Roberto Martinez, said this Monday that has not yet decided if the captain of the “Red Devils” and Real Madrid forward, Eden Hazard, will play this Tuesday against Iceland because he does not want to take any risks with a player who suffered injuries last season and has not yet caught up with competition.

“He will be involved in the session. He has been working individually and has tried to join the group when he could. Medically it is perfect, it is just a matter of being very careful with its introduction. He is not in top form yet and has not been able to train in a group at his club. We will be very careful and we will not take any risk“Martinez said at the press conference.

The Spanish coach explained that he will make the decision on Hazard's participation at the end of Monday's training session in Tubize, south of Brussels. “If he can play tomorrow it would be ideal. But if not, his presence in the concentration is what I and everyone needed, the captain ten months after” the last concentration, added Martínez.

After undergoing ankle surgery in March, and with a season plagued by injuries behind him, Hazard played the quarterfinal match of the Champions League in which Real Madrid were eliminated against Manchester City in early August. The Belgian did not shine on the field, he was substituted and after the game he appeared before the press with an ice pack on his operated ankle.

“It is a concentration in which we have to be extra careful”, he said about the conditions of his players at the beginning of an atypical season after last season was altered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Belgium defeated Denmark 0-2 last Saturday, without Eden Hazard, and they share the leadership of their group of the League of Nations with England, which defeated Iceland 0-1. On Tuesday they will host Iceland at the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels, where they hope to find themselves with a team that is “very strong defensively” and quick to go on the counterattack.

Martínez advanced that Romelu Lukaku will not play, after having played Saturday's game, adding that the Inter Milan striker will do a recovery session this Monday before returning home. The technician Nor will he be able to count on Yannick Carrasco, a Chinese Dailan player on loan to Atlético de Madrid who negotiates his continuity in the rojiblanco team, who this weekend has obtained permission to leave the concentration “not for medical reasons and in accordance with his club”, as reported by the Federation.

But the Spanish coach It will add to its force the incorporation of Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, who became a father for the third time on Saturday, of a girl named Suri, and who enjoyed a few days of leave but he has already rejoined to face the Nordics. Martínez explained that in principle De Bruyne is in conditions to start and play the ninety minutes.