Real Madrid don’t have to give up hope despite Eden Hazard injury

When Eden Hazard limped off the field in Real Madrid’s eventual loss to Levante on Saturday night, Madridistas held their breath. Although the club must prepare for the worst, they have no reason to lose hope.

In the months during Eden Hazard’s absence from the team due to an ankle injury, Real Madrid found a winning formula based on their defense. They did not drop a single point in January without Hazard, and while they were humbled by Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals in February, that loss happened without much of their starting defense.

That said, Hazard was viewed as the key to Real winning the Champions League for a fourth time under Zinedine Zidane‘s management. When Hazard was fully healthy and clicking alongside Karim Benzema in the lineup, Real looked like one of Europe’s most dominant teams in November before the untimely injury at PSG.

Now, Hazard is dealing with a second injury that will have an even harsher impact on Los Blancos than the first.

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Real Madrid officially announced on their site that the Belgian winger has a fracture to his distal right fibula. Hazard suffered the injury in the second half of Saturday night’s 1-0 loss to Levante and had to be substituted for young standout Vinicius Junior. The player limped off the field, and Madridistas were immediately concerned.

According to a report from AS, Hazard’s recovery from this latest, serious injury is expected to take at least eight weeks. Over the next two months, Hazard would miss key fixtures against FC Barcelona, Valencia, and Real Sociedad in La Liga.

He’ll also, of course, miss both legs against Manchester City – the first of which takes place on Wednesday – and both quarterfinals games if Real are to advance in the competition.

In all honestly, Real Madrid need to prepare for an even worse outcome than this. They need to assume that Hazard won’t play for the remainder of the season and that anything he can give the team is a bonus.

Hazard should not have started against Levante, but Hazard could have suffered an unlucky injury as a substitute anyway. Real did a fantastic job of playing things cautiously with Hazard, who was ready to return for El Derbi but didn’t play against Atletico Madrid or against Real Sociedad in the Copa. Yet in the end, no amount of caution could have prevented this.

So Los Blancos will play it even more cautiously with Hazard’s second injury than they did the first. Hazard needed months to recover from a troublesome ankle injury sustained at the hands of Thomas Meunier, and he’ll need months to recover from this fibula fracture, too.

Real must place their faith in Vinicius Junior and their other attacking players and midfielders, realizing that they still have the quality to win La Liga and go far in the Champions League. Hazard’s injury hurts their chances, yes, but they cannot give up the faith.

They must prepare for the worst with Hazard but do so with an eye on their other players. Hope is not lost by any means. Los Blancos have won without Hazard. Furthermore, if he returns for the final stretch of the Champions League campaign while they are still in the campaign, he could give him that final boost.