Real Madrid: 5 burning questions from a 1-1 draw with Elche

What can we expect from Eden Hazard going forward?

Eden Hazard did not get as many minutes as we would have hoped against Elche, as Zinedine Zidane waited until there were about 15 minutes left in the match to make changes. The Belgian superstar entered for Lucas Vazquez, with Marco Asensio shifting to the right side to make way for Hazard on the left.

The change had basically no effect on Real’s attack in terms of the final product. Real continued to struggle to create chances, and Hazard was swarmed every time he tried to touch the ball. Los Blancos did not seem to have a good plan for how to get him involved, even though Zidane knew he would be calling upon Hazard off the bench. His only stat for the game was one dispossession, in which he weakly tried to take on a defender on the left wing after being isolated by two Elche defenders.

Hazard is the key to Real’s success in all competitions, because they may not be able to win La Liga without him at his best and also definitely won’t be able to win the Champions League without his superstar quality.

Celta Vigo is a good test for Hazard over the course of 90 minutes. He should be ready to start against Vigo after this tune-up at Elche. They are a beatable team defensively, no doubt, but they will also go all-out with their defensive gameplan to keep Los Blancos off the scoresheet. That’s what makes the match a good test of Hazard in his individual quality and what he can do to elevate Real Madrid.