• Injury.Hazard, between two and three months off
  • Opinion: A big one with the cross of small teams, by Orfeo Suárez

Despite the February solace that Valdebebas hugged on Sunday, the atmosphere in the Sports City was bleak, dense and pessimistic. As the Saharan calima of the Canary Islands. "Damn football," they said from the headquarters of Real Madrid, being cursed a smooth transcript of the epithet used in the expression. The defeat against Levante and the seriousness of the injury of Eden Hazard shake the white team at the gates of the decisive week of the season. There could be others in the future, also important, but to get to them, Madrid needs to go out as fully as possible from the two height exams it faces in the coming days. The City and Barcelona threaten the Bernabéu. That is, Guardiola and Messi , two of the entity's historical enemies. A double hit would leave the Zinedine Zidane team badly injured in the big competitions, three months after the end of the course. Risk functions that, intended at Real Madrid, become opportunities to redirect the things that are now crooked.

The game in the City of Valencia was a real ruin for the whites, defeated in the last minutes, yielding the leadership to Barça and with its broken star on the bench. Little has played the former Chelsea this season, but every time he has retired from the field limping, minutes later his team has fallen apart. He went to PSG , the day of his first injury (2-0 to 2-2), also to Celta , last Sunday (he left with 1-0 and ended up tying the Galicians) and happened again against Levante . The medical part about the Belgian sharpened on Sunday the bad night dragged from Saturday. The tests found a fissure in the same ankle that left him out three months. It is another point of the bone, but also near the reinforcement plate that years ago Chelsea doctors placed in the joint. In Madrid they do not dare to make a forecast of their withdrawal, but they fear that the deadlines will be repeated. And if that were the case, the campaign would almost be over for him.

In the locker room, on Saturday, as they crossed each other's glances of concern at Hazard's ankle, everyone circled the match, the first one lost in the League since October; the second in February, after the fall before the Real Sociedad . That night the course of a growing team since autumn was twisted, when Zidane won the Istanbul match ball. His players saved him first from the plot and then, little by little, from football. The French reinforced his drawing, they all leveled up, the rotation system started to work and the results changed. The tremors of Barcelona helped hunt the league lead, on the way to the Champions League crossing against the City. However, the KO before the Real generated many doubts. As happened in 2018, with Leganés , the Cup did a lot of damage.

No scorers with continuity

It hurt in the box to fall in a tournament that seemed an ideal path (eliminated the great rivals) to reach another title, after the Super Cup. The eleven raised by the French was not understood, before a good team like the San Sebastian. Some costume veterans twisted the gesture, because they feared that Odegaard and company would hurt. In the 56th minute, they won 0-3 at Chamartín. In Pamplona , Madrid shone again before the new stumble at home, now with Celta.

Some players, like Marcelo , were pointed out, while Mendy , threatened with yellow, only came out a few minutes at the end and without seeing the card. So that the Sunday classic was not lost, he did not play against Levante. Defensively, whites have forgotten the firmness that was their flag.

Easily fit again (one chance for Levante, one goal; two for Celta, two goals) and he continues to yearn for greater scoring ability, a bad that already punished him hard last season. Benzema aside, Zidane does not get more scorers with continuity. On Saturday, the good first part was of no use not translating it into an advantage on the scoreboard. «A decisive week is coming to work and not forgive. We have created many clear occasions and we have not finished them. Now is when we have to be closer than ever, ” Sergio Ramos asked in Valencia. Again, the captain tries to ignite the plot for the coming Pyrenean stages. Nobody forgets the tragic seven days that took Solari Madrid ahead with three straight losses to Barcelona (twice) and Ajax .

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Know more

  • sports
  • First division
  • football
  • Real Madrid
  • Champions League
  • Zinedine Zidane
  • Eden Hazard

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