Eden Hazard: Zinedine Zidane defends Real Madrid forward over claims that stress is causing injuries

ByEurosport

Published 30/11/2020 at 18:41 GMT

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has defended forward Eden Hazard's mental fortitude after the forward picked up another injury, ruling him out of Tuesday's Champions League meeting with Shakhtar Donetsk. Hazard has suffered a number of injury setbacks since joining Real and Belgium national team doctor Kris van Crombrugge has suggested it is because of mental stress.

Zidane Zinedine has defended Eden Hazard over suggestions that his injury issues at Real Madrid are being caused by mental stress.

Hazard's difficult time at Real continued at the weekend as he suffered another injury setback that could rule him out for three weeks.

Belgium national team doctor Kris van Crombrugge had suggested Hazard's problems since joining Real were because he was putting too much pressure on himself to play, but Zidane refuted those claims.

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"No, what are you talking about?" said the Real Madrid head coach. "He is really strong. He's always shown it. It's another injury, and it's a shame for him and for us. But it's happening in a lot of teams.

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"It's a difficult situation for Eden. We want to see him with us. We have to accept it. He had hardly got injured during his entire career, and then he had the injury that bothered him for a while, and now he's injured again. I'm sure he'll come back stronger."

Hazard joins captain Sergio Ramos, midfielder Federico Valverde, defender Dani Carvajal and forward Luka Jovic on the sidelines.

Real will qualify for the Champions League knockout stages with a win over Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek, and will be hoping to avenge their 3-2 defeat by the Ukrainian outfit back in October.

"We know that tomorrow is another final. We've got two left. Tomorrow is almost certainly the most important group stage game because they're three points which could see us qualify. We're fully focused on that."

Defender Nacho spoke alongside Zidane and said that the side need to improve their consistency given their up and down results this term.

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"What we're looking for is consistency, and to go into games in a better way," he said.

"Against Inter (Milan) we were really good, we dominated almost all the game, and against Alaves without it being our worst game, we found ourselves behind and didn't look good."

Real's defensive lapses have seen them ship seven goals in their last three La Liga games and Nacho conceded they have to improve that if they are to retain their league title and be in with a shot of a 14th European Cup.

"We always want to be secure defensively as that's how you win games. The opponents are studying us more and more but you've got to remember that before players we're humans and we try and do the best we can.

"This isn't the way to win trophies, but we're doing all we can to change that."

Additional reporting by Reuters

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