Real Madrid left winger Eden Hazard should be ready to go after the November international break, but what statistical impact can Madridistas expect?
It didn’t take long for Eden Hazard to find the back of the net for Real Madrid upon his return from multiple injuries. Madridistas were seriously worried about Hazard’s ability to make an impact this season due to all the missed time and the recurring injuries, but his impact on the club was clearly felt when he was back in the lineup.
Hazard made his 2020-2021 season debut in a Champions League fixture at Borussia Monchengladbach. Real Madrid were down 2-0 before Hazard entered the match. By the end, they had tied 2-2 to keep their Champions League hopes alive.
Then, in Hazard’s first start of the season, he scored a wondergoal from outside the box against Huesca to wake Los Blancos from their first-half slumber. Real Madrid would go on to win that game 4-1.
In that one 60-minute appearance against Huesca, Eden Hazard showed Madridistas why he is the team’s most talented player. It honestly isn’t even close. Hazard’s dribbling ability, consistency, and eye for the spectacular set him apart from even Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, and Toni Kroos. The man is in his own category and is easily a top-five player when he is at full strength.
Madridistas can only help he remains healthy for the rest of the 2020-2021 season. Due to COVID-19, he could not play at the Mestalla, and Real Madrid turned in one of their worst performances in a humiliating 4-1 defeat at Valencia.
So what can we expect from Hazard for the remainder of the season?
Eden Hazard only had one goal for Real Madrid last season
Last season, Hazard could only play 1,088 minutes in La Liga, as he scored just one goal and three assists in the injury-plagued season. Those look like underwhelming statistics, but they don’t tell the whole story. Per WhoScored.com, the Belgian wide forward also had 3.1 dribbles per game and 3.1 fouls drawn per game. His dribbling numbers were down from his usual numbers at Chelsea, but he was actually drawing more fouls – and that’s both good and bad, since the fouls help the team but also leave him more vulnerable to injury.
More from The Real Champs
- Manchester City hold talks over Real Madrid target
- Real Madrid player confirms he is playing with a fracture
- Real Madrid superstar rejected Premier League clubs confirmed
- Spaniard ready to join Real Madrid instead of Liverpool
- PSG want €100 million Real Madrid player to replace Kylian Mbappe
At Chelsea, Hazard would consistently average around 14 goals per season. He usually had somewhere just under 10 assists, though he had 15 in his final season before leaving. So he would score every 2-3 starts and assist in about every fourth start.
Now that he’s with Real Madrid, his role is a little bit different. Goals are difficult to come by against smart, tactical, and centralized La Liga defenses, who know how to bring their “A” game against Los Blancos. And Benzema is the primary scorer, so he and Hazard work off each other.
That said, I think we can expect more goal-scoring from Hazard this season.
His assists depend on the players around him, and, aside from Benzema and Fede Valverde, everyone else is underperforming from a goal-scoring standpoint.
That may hurt Hazard’s assists, but it’s a big reason why I think we’ll see more goals from the Belgian.
Let’s focus on the league. There are about 30 remaining games in the league season. I don’t expect Hazard to play in all of them, but let’s be optimistic and say that he’s healthy and starts in about 20 of them. (Vinicius Junior will need to rotate starts at the left wing position, too.)
20 goal contributions isn’t out of the question for Eden Hazard
In 20 starts, it’s reasonable to predict about five goals and six assists as a baseline. Hazard should be expected to score or assist in every other game as the team’s superstar player, at a minimium. If he’s healthy, he should be more productive in his second season with Real Madrid. Not only is he more familiar with the Spanish league, but he’s also more familiar with his teammates.
A realistic goal would then be numbers similar to his final season at Chelsea. And that would be nearly a goal contribution in roughly every start. So 9 goals and 10 assists in his remaining 20 starts, which would give Hazard 10 goals and 10 assists in 21 starts this season.
It’s hard to put so much stock into goals and assists, since Hazard offers so much as a chance-creator, ball-carrier, director of the attack in the final third, and even a decoy. Look no further than the match against Inter Milan. He didn’t get credited with the assist, but his dribbling in the penalty area led to Sergio Ramos’ first-half headed goal from a corner.
Hazard is a major key to Real’s success in 2020-2021. Hopefully, he can score and assist 10 times each this season and stay healthy enough to do just that. Those goal contributions are necessary to Los Merengues.