BARCELONA – Real Madrid start their Champions League campaign
in Paris on Wednesday hoping that Eden Hazard can inspire them on the
road to regaining the crown they held from 2016 until last June.
But the Chelsea signing has had an interrupted start to life in
Madrid.
After an unconvincing substitute's performance at the weekend he must
wait to see if coach Zinedine Zidane sees fit to pitch him in at the
Parc des Princes.
Hazard was accused of being overweight in pre-season by one prominent
Spanish football journalist citing sources at the club, and he then
picked up a hamstring injury which kept him out of the start of the
season.
He came on at the hour mark on Saturday with Real Madrid winning 3-1
against Levante.
But it was a difficult debut for him as the visitors scored again to
leave Madrid protecting a 3-2 lead in the final stages.
"I got a bit annoyed with him because he lost possession with a
couple of back-heel flicks," said Thibaut Courtois with a broad grin
on his face after the match.
The Real Madrid keeper is a team-mate of Hazard's for Belgium, as he
was at Chelsea, and the criticism was passed off as friendly.
No one in Madrid doubts Hazard's enormous quality, or that he'll be a
long-term success.
But when former Real Madrid player and coach Jorge Valdano said in
his co-commentary of Saturday's match: "What a compact body he has,
and with his shirt outside his shorts even more so," it was
interpreted on social media as an insinuation that the former Chelsea
midfielder is still not at his optimum weight.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez will certainly be keen to see
Hazard play some part in Paris as the Spanish side go up against the
club currently boasting the talents of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
Neither of the forwards will play against Real Madrid - Neymar is
suspended and Mbappe injured - and the third member of the PSG
trident, Edinson Cavani, is also set to miss the game with a hip
problem.
But PSG are still very much the club that have plaeyrs Madrid want,
or have wanted in the past.
Neymar is an old Real Madrid target. He had a trial at the club in
2006 as a 14-year-old.
Barcelona won the race to sign him but when he left the Camp Nou in
2017 Real Madrid's president Florentino Perez publicly declared that
he would have loved to have signed him.
Perez told Spanish radio at that year's Balon d'Or gala: "Neymar
would have more chance of winning the Balon d'Or at Madrid. Everyone
knows I wanted to sign him."
Most Real Madrid supporters would now rather see the club sign Mbappe
who they are delighted to see missing from a game that will see
Madrid have to do without captain Sergio Ramos who is suspended and
Marcelo who is injured.
A first clean sheet of the season for Real Madrid and something
special from Hazard will be what Real Madrid are looking for.
It will not be easy with the defensive absentees and with the Belgian
yet to start a game this season.