Real Madrid player Eden Hazard, during the match against Levante last Saturday at the Alfredo di Stéfano.Kiko Huesca / EFE
Eden Hazard It has broken again and has already added four injuries, three of them muscular, so far this season, in addition to the days off due to coronavirus. The medical services of Real Madrid found him this Wednesday “a muscle injury in the left anterior rectum”, as the official statement collects, which according to club sources is estimated to be about five weeks off. The Belgian was “dejected” after learning the diagnosis.
In his third consecutive start, Hazard played 60 minutes in the league game against Levante on Saturday at the Alfredo di Stéfano, more or less the same time as the previous two games. He returned to Valdebebas on Tuesday, for the first training session of the week after the two days off that Zidane granted to the squad, but he did not exercise with the rest. Club sources explained that his absence was due to the blows received in that game. The next day, this Wednesday, he started the session with the rest, but he left it before concluding it. They did tests and found a muscle tear in the anterior rectus of the left thigh.
Of the 28 official games that Madrid have played this season, Hazard has only been available in half, 14, and has played some minutes in 13, eight of them as a starter. In short: 631 minutes in which he has scored three goals. If the club’s estimates of his time are met, Hazard would not be ready for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, which Madrid has on February 24 against Atalanta in Italy, although he could return a few days before the return, on March 16 in Madrid.
According to these estimates, he will miss at least six more League matches (Huesca, Getafe, Valencia, Valladolid, Real Sociedad and Atlético de Madrid), in addition to the Champions League against Atalanta. At that point, it will have been available in 14 of the team’s 35 games this season, 40% of the total.
In addition to the injury to his left leg announced on Wednesday, Hazard started the season with a bad ankle and missed the first two league games. Later, he suffered a rupture of the anterior rectus of the right thigh that prevented him from making his debut against Valladolid on September 30, after having entered the day before in his first call for the course.
He returned, played against Borussia Mönchengladbach, against Huesca (he scored a goal) and against Inter, and was infected with coronavirus, which he tested positive on November 6. The illness made him miss the league match against Valencia.
Three weeks later the anterior rectus of the right thigh was broken again in the league match against Alavés at the Alfredo di Stéfano. It was on matchday 11 and he did not reappear in the competition until matchday 16, just 15 minutes on the field against Elche on December 30.