Eden Hazard had best game in Real Madrid shirt despite 0-0 draw

Eden Hazard had his best game in a Real Madrid shirt since joining the club.

After FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid both slipped up in their respective games, Real Madrid had a great chance to move into first place in La Liga table. But Los Blancos failed to capitalize on their rivals’ misery and could only secure a draw after missing quite a few clear cut chances. And then there was the matter of a blatant penalty call going against them.

While the Whites played well and there were many positives to take away from this game, the biggest positive was Eden Hazard’s performance. Real Madrid’s Galactico signing, purchased this summer, has looked far from his usual best since joining the club. But there were positive signs in recent weeks, wherein he was slowly getting close to his best. All those positive points showed in the game against Betis, as he was clearly the best player on the pitch for Los Blancos.

In the game against Leganes, he was criticized for not shooting, and while to some extent, that criticism still applies, Hazard did take a shot and scored. But it was unfortunately ruled offside by VAR. Apart from the shooting issue, Hazard looked like a different player from what he has shown Madridistas so far. Hazard attempted seven dribbles and completed six of them, according to WhoScored.com.

More importantly, his ability to break past tight situations shone in the first half. His famous move, – where he suddenly turns and accelerates, leaving defenders behind – was finally working to great success. On multiple occasions, Hazard dribbled his way out of trouble, making tight turns and combining extremely well with Karim Benzema. Every time those two had the ball Real looked very dangerous in the attack, which points to a budding partnership between the two.

While Real were unlucky not to win the game, Eden Hazard slowly returning to his best will be a huge positive for the Whites. His ability to change a game is going to be very important for Los Blancos as the team slowly gets into its best possible shape and rhythm. The entire squad will benefit from a mental boost knowing that they have another player who can decide games just by himself.