Hazard hopes to feature against Alaves

This Saturday, August 14, will see Real Madrid get their LaLiga Santander campaign underway away at Alaves, and it is a game that Eden Hazard hopes to feature in.

The Belgian winger has been training with his club teammates since last Saturday after undergoing the final stage of his recovery, so now he has set his sights on playing at the Estadio Mendizorroza.

It seems that the Alaves game has come too soon for Hazard to start, however, as the other players that returned at a similar time to him - such as Gareth Bale, Vinicius Junior, Eder Militao and Casemiro - have all played some minutes in pre-season.

Carlo Ancelotti hopes to have most of his squad available to face Alaves, but there is a doubt about Karim Benzema. The French striker only joined up with the rest of his Real Madrid teammates on Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19, so playing just 11 days later could be seen as a risk.

There are four players that will definitely miss the match in Vitoria, though: Toni Kroos, Ferland Mendy, Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Odriozola.

Pintus' plan for Hazard is working

Hazard is responding well to the demands of fitness coach Antonio Pintus, following the knock he picked up whilst playing for Belgium against Portugal at Euro 2020.

The former Chelsea star understands that there is no margin for error this season as he looks to live up to his hefty price tag and become an idol at Real Madrid, following two underwhelming campaign at the club.

This summer, Hazard has arrived in better shape and looks set to correct past mistakes.