Something has changed at the Santiago Bernabu since the resumption of the Spanish Liga season – or the Estadio Alfredo di Stefano as Real Madrid’s home stadium is until the end of the 2019/20 campaign. They have taken their time, but Zinedine Zidane’s side have finally found their groove.
Indeed, Los Blancos have won all four of the matches they have played since the return of La Liga to rise to the top of the table. Victory over bottom side Espanyol on Sunday will see them go two points clear of Barcelona, putting them in pole position to win over their second league title in eight years.
There have been a number of different factors behind this resurgence, but the developing partnership between Karim Benzema and Eden Hazard has fundamentally changed the landscape for the club. This is the duo around which Zidane now seemingly plans on building his entire side around.
Real Madrid have struggled for attacking cohesion ever since the moment Cristiano Ronaldo swapped the Spanish capital for Turin, joining Juventus in the summer of 2018. Benzema picked up some of the slack somewhat last season, but Los Blancos struggled to fill the void left by their record top scorer.
Hazard was signed as the heir to Ronaldo, but the Belgian is a very different sort of player. It wasn’t clear until a few weeks where exactly he would fit into the Real Madrid team, with injuries fragmenting his first season in the Spanish capital. Now, though, the picture is much clearer.
Benzema and Hazard operate on the same wavelength. They have only been teammates for a year, not even a full season yet, but they recognise each others’ runs, each others’ movements. Some players just get one and other, and Benzema and Hazard certainly seem to be among them. Their partnership seems natural, as if it comes easily to them.
If Real Madrid are to clinch the championship, dethroning Barcelona as the kings of Spanish football, it will likely be on the back of Benzema and Hazard’s relationship. Others are contributing, with Marco Asensio back from injury, Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane forming a defensive wall at the back and Luka Modric back in form, but it’s the Belgian and the Frenchman at the head of the attack driving Los Blancos forward.
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