Time for Hazard to step up
With alarm bells ringing for Madrid and Zidane, they need to Belgian to perform with the game at the Sanchez Pizjuan offering a perfect opportunity.
After the poor performance and 3-0 Champions League setback in París, the LaLiga clash at the Sánchez Pizjuán offers Real Madrid and under-fire coach Zinedine Zidane a chance of redemption with the match offering big summer signing Eden Hazard to make the step up and deliver the levels of pre-season expectation deposited in the Belgian.
The 28-year- old cost over 100 million for Real Madrid as the player showed up for pre-season training with his new squad in Canada clearly overweight. A fine strike against Salzburg in pre-season showed a brief glimpse of what fans can expect from the former Chelsea man who missed the early 2019-20 LaLiga start with injury, making his return last weekend at the Bernabeu where Los Blancos secured a 3-2 win over Levante.
Quiet start
The Belgian has been discreet in front of goal in both his games. In 173 minutes of action in games against Levante and PSG, Benzema was involved in eight shots on target scoring twice. Bale (79’ minutes of action in Paris) struck three shots which is the same effort rate as Hazard in both games fired against Levante and the Ligue 1 side.
"Eden has a great future ahead", maintains Zizdane but the French coach needs the Belgian international to start to deliver. What better stage than the Sanchez Pizjuán where former Madrid boss Lopetegui and his second placed Sevilla await.