Real Madrid will face Villarreal at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on Thursday night with a chance to win La Liga.
It has been a dream return to La Liga for Real Madrid, who are winners of all nine of their last nine games. Although it hasn’t always been easy, Real have been able to grind out the difficult results, including holding onto a 2-1 win at Los Carmenes this Monday.
But it won’t get any easier for Los Blancos on Thursday night. They will be at home, but that’s not a huge advantage without a crowd, least of all against an energetic Villarreal side whom they tied in September. Villarreal are in fifth and have some of La Liga’s best attacking players.
Here are three things for Madridistas to look forward to vs. Villarreal…aside from the obvious, which is a potential title victory.
Eden Hazard playing
It’s unclear if Eden Hazard will be fit to play on Thursday, but Zinedine Zidane has said that he hopes the Belgian will be out there. He’s getting closer to full strength after being rested against Granada, and Hazard did make a substitute appearance in the 2-0 win over Alaves.
Hazard’s injury troubles this season have hurt Real Madrid, but they haven’t hurt Real enough to prevent Zidane’s side from being in a position to win their 34th league title. When Hazard has been on the pitch, he truly looks like a 100 million euros man. Recall that he played at a world-class level in Real’s first game back to La Liga in a 3-1 win over Eibar.
It will be exciting to see him back on the pitch on Thursday night, as he wants to help Real Madrid clinch La Liga. Hazard would own Mario Gaspar if he starts.