“They go hunting for me”

The match against Granada ends with a happy victory that leaves Madrid with many options to revalidate the league title. Four goals have been scored again months later. Hazard, who played the final part of the match, contributed to the result with an assist. He has only played the last minutes and has made them profitable, and could be satisfied but, instead, the Belgian is serious and concerned in the dressing room. Definitely, he has lost the smile that always accompanies him. In the few minutes he has played, he has been the subject of three fouls, one particularly hard, by Quina. “They go hunting for me”, he comes to reflect in his inner circle.

Within Madrid they begin to see with concern that the player smiles less and less, which, obviously, can have a negative impact on his recovery. Being a very skilled player for dribbling and for leaving in short spaces, it is very common to see that rivals go to the ground to stop him, and the Belgian feels each of those actions as a serious risk for the recovery of his operated ankle. An important handicap to see the same Hazard again.

The truth is that Hazard is fighting to be the star signing that Madrid made two summers ago, when he arrived from Chelsea for 100 million euros. Injuries have not allowed him to develop his game and, when it seemed that he saw the light at the end of the tunnel in this final stretch, the game is not accompanying him. There is part of the dressing room (squad and coaching staff) that begins to think that the harshness in the game that Hazard is subjected to may have something to do with the difficulties he is having.

Hazard underwent surgery on his right ankle on March 5, 2020 in Dallas after a tackle from his compatriot Meunier. A delicate surgery, because there the Belgian had already had a titanium plate implanted since June 2017. Since then, injuries have been very frequent in the footballer, to the point that this season, for example, he has only been able to play 20 games (of them, he started in 11), in which he has scored four goals. At the end of the match against Granada, he was obviously limping. This time, for a hard tackle. And the Belgian, until he feels strong again, finds it difficult to overcome feeling in danger when he jumps into the field.