Zidane welcomes back ‘impressive’ Hazard
Real Madrid coach, Zinedine Zidane, defended his players after their 0-0 draw with Real Betis.
For the second time in a week Los Blancos drew 0-0 in LaLiga Santander, and the slip comes at an inopportune time ahead of their midweek Champions League semi-final meeting with Chelsea.
Zidane, though, thinks that the reaction to the draw has been overblown.
“We dropped two points, that’s clear,” Zidane said after the game. “We were very good defensively but lacked a lot in attack. We lacked something, we weren’t great up top.
“But we drop two points and it’s as though we’re bad. We’ve lost two points, but we’re focused on Tuesday. There’s a long way to go in LaLiga [Santander] and we’re going to fight until the end. It’s not over.
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“We’re ready for the next game, which is going to be our most difficult of the entire season.
“We were lacking something to win, that’s true, but we’re fine.”
Eden Hazard made his latest injury comeback by coming off the bench for the final 15 minutes and made a good impression.
“He was really impressive,” Zidane said about his No.7. “We’re happy to see Eden because he’s a player who is going to contribute for us.”
Dani Carvajal also featured again, having done so in midweek as well. His availability against Chelsea remains uncertain.
“We’ll see what part he plays,” Zidane added. “The other day he played 20 minutes and he played a little more today.
“The plan is to get Ferland [Mendy] back, and to get Toni [Kroos] back. But we have to wait. We have to recover.”