These are the nights that made Eden Hazard so desperate to join Real Madrid. A packed and expectant Bernabeu, the world watching on TV and the chance to become a hero from a position of adversity.
It is still possible that the 31-year-old can produce the decisive moment against Paris Saint Germain tomorrow night but the grim reality for a player who finds himself drifting silently into the sunset is he appears more likely to remain stuck to the substitutes’ bench.
Hazard has moulded a groove in those warm race-car style seats, seldom making it onto the grass for a meaningful period of action. He has completed 90 minutes just once in his third season in Madrid, his only goal has come in the Copa del Rey and the solitary assist came in August.
