Zidane hoping to play his favoured trio of Asensio-Benzema-Hazard
Marco Asensio's cruciate injury deprived the Real Madrid coach of fielding his ideal attacking trio this season but the Covid-19 hiatus now sees Asensio recovered.
Zinedine Zidane is now in a position to utilise his ideal attacking trio of Asensio-Benzema-Hazard. As his Real Madrid side prepare for the return to competitive activity Sunday next, the French coach fielded the trio in the same team in a practice game at Valdebebas over the weekend with Marco Asensio's pre-season injury depriving the coach of fielding all three players together in a competitive game.
Real Madrid's International Champions Cup games in the US last summer offered a brief glimpse of how the trio would work together with all three playing in the (3-1) defeat to Bayern Munich.
In the next pre-season friendly against Arsenal at the FedExField in Landover, Zidane started Jovic along with Benzema and Hazard. The three failed to gel and Asensio was brought into the fray after the interval delivering an accomplished display. Disaster was to strike the Mallorcan born player when in the second half a tussle with Aubameyang saw the player fall awkwardly clutching his left knee in agony with the fall seeing the player tear his cruciate ligament.
10 months later
Over ten and a half months have passed since that fateful July evening and the break in activity as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic has been favourable to the Spanish international with his comeback performances in training impressing Zidane and his back-room staff.
We may not see the Benzema-Hazard-Asensio trio start in the first game back as Eibar visit the capital (Sunday 14 June with a 19:30 kick-off) but it's anticipated that Asensio will be given some game time on Sunday and could start in the following match as Madrid face Valencia the following Thursday.