Real Madrid: 5 burning questions from a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo

Is Eden Hazard fully ready?

Eden Hazard came off the bench against Elche for his first minutes back from another injury, but he didn’t really look effective. Granted, he didn’t have much time to make an impression, but with the game tied 1-1 against Elche, you would have backed Hazard to do more than lose the ball by running straight at the defense with no real “pop”.

It was only 20 minutes from minute 73 to 93, but, based on my eye test, I thought Hazard looked quite good out there against Celta Vigo. Look, every time he gets tackled and goes to the ground, I’m going to get a little nervous, but I loved how quickly he popped back up and how confident he looked playing direct.

He and Toni Kroos had some SICK interchanges on the left-hand side. They weren’t 100 percent on the same wavelength – there was a play where Kroos basically intercepted a ball intended for Hazard before immediately laying it off to him anyway – but there’s so much potential for both of them to direct play on the left in the same way that Luka Modric, Lucas Vazquez, and Dani Carvajal have done so on the right.

In 20 minutes, Hazard didn’t record any meaningful stats, but he showed the movement and touches we needed to be encouraged. He’ll have a full week of rest before Osasuna next week, but the real key is keeping him healthy until the Champions League when the grind truly begins again. Go look up the schedule. Real will face Atalanta, Real Sociedad, and Atletico Madrid in three straight games in late February to early March.