da brdice： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
da bwin： Even though it sounds strange to say at this stage in the competition, Real Madrid are truly desperate to stay afloat in the Champions League.
And yes, seeing how they are the single most dominant force in European football – having already bagged 13 trophies to their names and snatching a historic three in the row not that long ago – this statement really does make you think.
But without too much exaggeration, and despite their Tuesday night clash only being their third in the 2019/20 season, they have already reached a “do or die” phase of their Champions League campaign.
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How did it come to that, you may ask.
Well, despite being decent in La Liga, considering they just suffered their very first defeat last Saturday in a huge upset against Mallorca, they were, for the lack of a better term, pretty abysmal in Europe.
And that’s another thing you rarely connect to Real Madrid and especially to Madrid under Zinedine Zidane. After all, it was the Frenchman who orchestrated that historic run of three consecutive Champions League crowns a couple of years ago during his first tenure with the club.
But at the moment, that is their reality.
Los Blancos were humiliated in their Champions League curtain-raiser at Parc des Princes against Paris Saint-Germain, losing 3-0 in the process, before Club Brugge added insult to injury, robbing them of a win at the Santiago Bernabeu by snatching a point with a 2-2 draw on the night.
Because of that, the illustrious Galacticos are sitting last in the group and will be hoping to tally their first European triumph on Tuesday night.
But it will be a task easier said than done as they are travelling to Galatasaray away from home.
The Turkish side will no doubt welcome them in a fiery atmosphere and will be looking to take advantage of the recovering giants from the Spanish capital who definitely seem quite shaken at the moment.
Indeed, not all is rosy back in Madrid and, should Zidane fail to win on Tuesday, it could potentially set things into motion that cannot be stopped anymore. But we’ll have to wait and see about that one.
Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…
One thing that we can definitely be sure of, however, is that a certain no.7 in the team will have to take out his shooting boots on Tuesday and finally show his true colours.
Of course, Eden Hazard is no Cristiano Ronaldo and this is not meant as an insult in any shape or form.
The truth is, rarely anyone is like the Portuguese superstar but just by donning that famous number on his back and playing in Ronaldo’s position, Real Madrid just might look to the Belgian to take them out of this slump, just as Ronaldo used to do back in the day before he joined Juventus.
After all, that’s exactly what you would expect from an £89m man who arrived with certain pedigree and reputation from his days spent at Stamford Bridge, wouldn’t you?
By now, we all know that Hazard has been underperforming ever since he joined Real Madrid or rather, he is yet to fully emerge from his cocoon.
So far, he only has one goal and one assist to his name while donning the royal white, which is, by all accounts, not good enough.
And of course, just like any other player who’s making a huge leap from one league to the other, from country to country, he needs time to settle. But the game against Galatasaray has his name stamped all over it.
After all, this is exactly the type of must-win game that Real Madrid brought him in for, is it not?
A game-changer, a player to decide who wins and who loses and the one to turn the tides in Los Blancos’ favour during times when it seems all but impossible. That’s more or less what it should say in the contract he signed back in the summer.
Just as Gotham city light up the bat-signal when they need their Dark Knight to save them in their hour of need, Real Madrid will also look to get the Hazard-signal up and running.
Is the Belgium bomber going to answer the call and be the hero the Madridistas need him to be?