Hazard has chance to prove himself

Last season, the Belgian star scored 21 goals in all competitions, 16 in the league and 17 assists. Great stats. At Real Madrid though, he has yet to get off the mark. 

The 100 million euros spent on him have now been worthwhile as of yet. It is true he has not been lucky. His season started with a muscle injury which forced him to miss the league games with Celta, Valladolid and Villarreal. 

He reappeared against Levante to play the last 31 minutes after substituting Casemiro. Real Madrid won 3-2. He was a starter in the following game against Paris Saint-Germain when his lack of game time was obvious and he was subbed off 30 minutes from the end in the 3-0 defeat. 

He did show good signs at the Sanchez Pizjuan though. Real Madrid got a hard earned win over Sevilla with a single goal from the Frenchman Karim Benzema. 

Hazard did well even though he was not fantastic in attack. He put in lots of work just like his teammates. The stats show he was brilliant in defence: Hazard won back more balls than anyone else (8). 

He also had a passing accuracy of 91% and he helped Ferland Mendy in defence to keep Jesus Navas down Sevilla's right at bay. 

Then, Zidane decided to rotate against Osasuna. Just like the league he won two seasons back, he started playing his B team. Vinicius and Rodrygo starred in that while other important figures were resting up for the Atletico game after tremendous effort in Sevilla. 

Now, Hazard is keen to shut many people up. Like for example, Rolland Courbis, ex-coach of teams like Marseille, Bordeaux and Montepllier, who gave Hazard stick affer the stick. He even claimed Hazard was six or seven kilos overweight after the summer break. 

Many these comments as well as others stirred Hazard on and he started to silence his critics like Courbis. 

Hazard's next opportunity to show why Real Madrid signed him comes on Saturday at the Wanda Metropolitano. 

He played there when he was at Chelsea in the 2017-18 Champions League which ended in a 1-2 win for the Blues. He wants to repeat that performance and start being the player he was in England. Without doubt, the Atletico game is time for Hazard to shine.