Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Eden Hazard is working hard to return for El Clasico

Real Madrid took a sigh of relief when they saw most of their players recover in time for the match against Shakhtar. David Alaba is in the squad, as is Eder Militao, both of whom were doubts for not only the Shakhtar game, but the Clasico this weekend as well.

Real Madrid haven’t recovered all of their players, though. Isco and Jovic recently got injured and were not named on the team sheet for the game against Shakhtar. Eden Hazard is also one of those players. The Belgian was a doubt for the games against Shakhtar and Barcelona, and I thought he’d be ruled out for the Champions League game as a precautionary measure, but it seems that he still hasn’t recovered from his injury.

According to Sergio Quirante on Twitter, Eden Hazard really wants to feature in this Clasico and help the team, and he’s doing a lot of training work with Lieven Maesschalck, a person who knows basically every fibre of muscle in his body.

Will Hazard be able to make it in time for Real Madrid’s game against Barcelona?

When Hazard got injured in the game vs France during the international break, there were reports of it being just a knock, which made this news much easier to bear, as it was not a muscle tear. Hazard was then seen training with the rest of the team last week, which made fans hopeful of seeing a return against Barcelona and maybe even Shakhtar.

But, now this makes everything a little confusing once again. Was Hazard not picked just because he was close to being fully fit but still wasn’t quite 100%? Was it a precautionary measure? Is the injury a bit more concerning than initially realised?

There are only reports and speculation from the journalists that are following his injury case closely. There is no official injury report from Real Madrid, so we will have to wait and see if either more reliable journalists come forward and share the news with us, or see for ourselves if Ancelotti picks the Belgium captain in the squad for the Clasico.

Reminder, Hazard has still yet to feature in a single Clasico since his move to the Spanish capital. In his last two seasons at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid have played Barcelona four times, winning three and drawing one in what has been a tough time for Barcelona, even more so now without former captain Lionel Messi.

If Hazard is to play in this game, the odds could go into Madrid’s favor, because of how good he can do against Barcelona’s troubled defense, which has now worsened because of Araujo’s injury.

Hazard faces a race against time to gain match fitness for the Clasico, as this is a must-win game for Los Blancos after being in a rough patch of sorts.