Hazard still hasn't played in a Clasico: Will he finally get his chance?

Eden Hazard is currently in his third season at Real Madrid and there have been six Clasicos in that time, yet he hasn’t stepped on to the pitch in a single one of them. The Belgian has missed all of the previous duels between Real Madrid and Barcelona through injury or by simply being out of favour.

In his first season at the club, that of 2019/20, the first Clasico of that campaign was postponed until December and, by then, Hazard had already suffered his serious foot injury, suffered in a Champions League game against PSG. As such, he missed that 0-0 draw and he was also absent because of injury when Real Madrid won 2-0 in March of 2020 at the Bernabeu, the last Clasico held there until this Sunday’s.

In the behind closed doors season of 2020/21, Hazard missed both Clasicos as a result of muscle injuries, but Zinedine Zidane’s side didn’t miss him as they won 3-1 at the Camp Nou and 3-2 at home in Valdebebas.

This year, there have been two Clasicos already and Hazard has in fact been available to Carlo Ancelotti for both of them. He was on the bench both times, finally making a Clasico matchday squad, but he was never introduced, not in the 2-1 LaLiga Santander win at the Camp Nou nor in the 3-2 Super Cup semi-final victory, even though that went all the way to extra time.

He’ll finally hope to feature in the biggest fixture of Spanish football and the absence due to injury of Karim Benzema gives the former Chelsea man a chance of being selected. If not from the start, he could at least be substituted on in the second half.

But, Real Madrid have been doing just fine in this fixture without their star signing of the 2019 summer. Los Blancos have defeated Barcelona five times in a row without Hazard, a winning run they hadn’t achieved against their rivals since the 1960s.

Eden Hazard’s record vs Barcelona

Even though he has never featured in a Clasico, Hazard has taken on Barcelona twice before. That was in the first and second legs of Chelsea’s Champions League last 16 duel with Barça in 2017/18.

After he assisted Willian for Chelsea’s goal in the 1-1 draw of the first leg, Barcelona earned a convincing 3-0 victory over the English side at the Camp Nou to progress in the competition.

To date, that has been Hazard’s only experience of taking on Barcelona. We’ll see if he is finally given an opportunity in this Sunday night’s game.