Real Madrid: 5 players who have found their confidence again in 2021/22

 2. LW/FW Eden Hazard

The players in the top two are players whose inclusion comes as a sigh of relief for many Madridistas. Eden Hazard has looked more determined than ever in his Real Madrid career under the new boss, Carlo Ancelotti. Don Carlo spoke about Hazard in the very first press conference he attended after his appointment. And, the work done with the Belgian so far has looked to have yielded results.

Hazard didn’t feature in the game against Inter and the latest game against Mallorca. While rotation seems to be the answer for the latter, for the game against Inter it seems like a blow to his thigh in the preceding game convinced Ancelotti to not take any risks and Madridistas would agree, it’s best to not risk anything with Hazard’s fitness right now. He is finally looking like the player he once was and needs to continue in the same way.

Eden Hazard doesn’t have much to show for direct goal involvements. He had a brilliant flicked assist to Karim Benzema on Matchday 1 that started the passage of goal scoring for Real Madrid. But, there are several things simple statistics wouldn’t show you. Even though Hazard isn’t scoring or assisting, he is playing very well. He is providing so much going forward and his linkups with Benzema have been a treat to watch.

He is averaging 2.4 key passes and 1.6 dribbles completed every game alongside winning 1.8 freekicks on an average for his side, per WhoScored. He is also putting in a shift defensively with this new free role that Don Carlo has put him into. He earlier said that he didn’t want to leave Madrid as a failure and it finally seems like the Belgian is sticking to his words. He is looking more agile and fitter and not to forget much more confident going forward.