Hazard could prove decisive at Stamford Bridge

The former Chelsea player will face the Blues in the Champions League semi-final second leg as Real Madrid seek to win the tie to play Manchester City in the final.

Hazard could prove decisive at Stamford Bridge
Eden Hazard

Former player of the Blues, Eden Hazard will be returning to his former club for the first time since leaving the club to join Los Blancos in the summer of 2019.

The Belgium International on Wednesday in his former home pitch ahead of the Champions League semi-finals second leg tie.

Hazard has endured a tough time with the La Liga giants, with persistent injuries preventing him from showing his best form on a consistent basis but his injury nightmare appears to finally be over after successfully coming through three Real Madrid games in a row consecutively either as a starter or a substitute.

The former Chelsea man made his first appearance since mid-March with a 15-minute cameo in a goalless draw at home to Real Betis last month and followed that up with 24 minutes in last week's first-leg.

His first start since the end of January came at the weekend as Los Blancos beat Osasuna 2-0 in La Liga and got 72 minutes in the tank before being replaced by Isco.

That was enough to earn him a place in the squad of the manager, who has won the Champions League title in three consecutive seasons. It remains to be seen if Hazard will be included in the starting line up to surge the Spanish Champions forward. They must score at least score one goal to have any chance of meeting Manchester City in the Champions League final.

Meanwhile, Madrid’s manager, Zinedine Zidane is expecting a big performance from the ex-Chelsea star following his familiarity with the Stamford Bridge turf.

"It is a great time for it, a great time for him and I think he is prepared, That is very good for us. We are going to need Eden, we know what a good player he is and he is definitely going to be helping the team. Eden is here, he is ready and prepared. Tomorrow he will bring his game and show what he wants out of it."

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Hazard took to his Instagram page with a 10-word message to Real Madrid and Chelsea fans. "Aiming for the big night, see you tomorrow my friends," he wrote and it was to hype up the game against his former club.