Ancelotti affirms that the player is ready to play two games in a row, but admits that the position he has available in the eleven is not ideal for the Belgian.
Fitting the puzzle
Ancelotti has a piece that doesn’t quite fit into his puzzle. The losses due to COVID of Asensio, Rodrygo and Bale, together with the need to use Lucas Vázquez as a side due to the absence of a touched Carvajal, have opened a gap in the Real Madrid eleven for Eden Hazard. But the Italian coach must find a place for him. The Belgian is neither used to playing on the right (Vinicius closes the door on the left) nor is he a pure winger. A puzzle that Ancelotti must solve and that can upset the 4-3-3. A drawing for which he ended up opting for the variations he tried in the first games of the season and that have led the Whites to add a 14-game undefeated streak, with two draws and 12 wins (ten of them consecutive).
Hazard’s return!
Hazard returned to the starting eleven against Cádiz 15 games after his last appearance in the starting eleven and played the 90 minutes, something that had not happened with Madrid for more than two years. He went unnoticed in the first half but had a good second half. Ancelotti confessed in the press conference prior to the match against Athletic that the Belgian is ready to play two games in a row, although there is no place in the team for him to occupy his ideal position. Ancelotti started the season relying on Hazard on the left, but the emergence of Vinicius coming off the bench in the first two games, against Alaves and Levante, changed the status quo and no one has ousted the Brazilian from the eleven since then. The changes of drawing to join Hazard did not convince the coach and, until Cádiz, the Belgian had only played 61 minutes spread over five moments of the previous 14 games.