Real Madrid: Eden Hazard’s return and 5 burning questions from a 0-0 draw vs. Real Betis

Real Madrid‘s struggles at home against Real Betis continued this Saturday night at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano. One weekend after drawing Getafe 0-0 with a severely depleted squad, Los Blancos played out the same result with a less depleted squad.

The loss leaves Madridistas with plenty of questions heading into Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal fixture against Chelsea. Let’s take a look at five burning questions.

Why didn’t Antonio Blanco start?

We begin with a question that is on the minds of a lot of fans, and it was immediately raised when we learned of the starting XIs for this match. There was initially speculation that Luka Modric could be held out after tweaking his back, but I guess Zinedine Zidane either saw him has too important to bench or he wanted him to get some minutes before the Champions League. Perhaps it was a little bit of both.

But it was a mistake to start Modric. He wasn’t not 100 percent again, and it showed. Meanwhile, Antonio Blanco replaced him off the bench late in the game, leaving us all wondering if Zidane screwed up by not starting him in the first place or if he could have at least brought him into the match sooner.

A double-pivot of Casemiro and Blanco with Isco as the No. 10 surely would have been more effective, especially since Real shifted to a back three with wing backs in the second half anyway.

It was disappointing not to see another start from Blanco, given how impressive he was in the 3-0 win over Cadiz. Chalk this one up as an error from Zidane. He should trust Blanco.