Real Madrid vs. Liverpool: Will Eden Hazard be able to play?

Lately, there has been a lot of news about Eden Hazard. The Real Madrid left winger suffered a psoas injury a couple of weeks ago in his return off the bench against Elche. It was his first game back in the Madrid lineup after missing a little over a month, as he last played on Jan. 30 for an hour in a 2-1 home loss to Levante.

Hazard was supposed to get a few minutes against Elche before starting in the Champions League second leg fixture vs. Atalanta. But once again, Hazard suffered an injury, leading to doubts about his future for the rest of the season and questions about a potential surgery.

Well, Hazard has not gone under the knife, and it appears he may be back sooner than expected. MARCA’s Juan Ignacio Garcia-Ochoa reports that Hazard “seems to be fully recovered” from the injury, and he even believes Hazard could be ready to play in the mid-week Champions League quarterfinal fixture against Liverpool.

It’s definitely a good sign that Hazard is training with his teammates already, and Kristof Terreur reported that the injury was a minor one to begin with. So it wouldn’t actually be a surprise for Hazard to be ready for Tuesday night’s Champions League battle.

Eden Hazard could return for Real Madrid vs. Liverpool or, more likely, El Clasico

But because Hazard has been injured so frequently, there is always concern that he is coming back “too soon”. Many Madridistas would not be against him just taking the rest of the season off to rest and do what needs to be done to end this cycle, because it is hard to watch such a talented player suffer injury after injury. Like against Elche last month, it seems as if he gets a new muscular injury almost immediately after he returns.

Hazard is, on paper, Real Madrid’s most talented player. But Los Blancos do not need to rely on him. Vinicius Junior has been very good in big games, including against Atalanta with Hazard out. He is more than capable of doing his part and causing problems for a team like Liverpool on the left-hand side of the Real attack.

As we saw in last season’s Champions League, it is not the best idea to start a less-than-100-percent Hazard over Vinicius. Real Madrid paid the price for that decision in their loss to Manchester City, as Hazard was highly ineffective.

Nevertheless, Hazard could be an asset off the bench against Liverpool, and, overall, Madridistas must take every positive bit of news they can with Hazard. Just don’t go into the Champions League first leg expecting him to play. But maybe, we will see him suit up for his first Clasico.