BleacherreportReal Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane discussed Eden Hazard’s struggles after his side’s 0-0 draw with city rivals Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday but backed him to succeed at the club.
Hazard is without a goal for Los Blancos and failed to make an impact during the Madrid derby. Per Goal’s Daniel Lewis, Zidane said: “He lacks little things. We have to stick with him. He’s done a good job, but we haven’t had many chances. We have to highlight everyone’s work. We’d like him to score because it’ll release him, but there are no problems, we’re sure it’ll come.”
The Belgian arrived from Chelsea in the summer for an initial €100 million fee, which could rise to €168 million with add-ons.
He was substituted in the 77th minute on Saturday, failing to muster a shot on goal during his time on the pitch. Covering Futbol and Managing Madrid’s Kiyan Sobhani observed his struggles:
The start of the 28-year-old’s career at the Santiago Bernabeu has been far from ideal, as a hamstring injury affected his pre-season preparations and kept him out of Real’s first three games.
Given he’s at a new club, enjoying a strong pre-season was perhaps even more important than usual, so the fact that he didn’t will have made settling in even more difficult than usual.
Despite Hazard’s ineffectual performance, Real had twice as many shots on goal as Atletico and more possession, per BBC Sport.
Zidane added:
“We deserved much more, but what I have to do is congratulate the players since we have been supportive again and we kept a clean sheet.
“It’s not just intensity, but what’s important is our strength. We saw a strong Madrid because we didn’t concede a chance. We lacked in creativity but we’re happy with what we did.“
The draw was Madrid’s third in seven La Liga matches this season. However, Real are top of the table and the only unbeaten team in the Spanish top flight, having already played two of their most difficult away fixtures at Sevilla and Atletico.
It is an ominous sign for their rivals that they have done so with Hazard either absent or struggling. If the winger can begin to have the kind of impact he made at Chelsea, he will take Madrid to another level.
