Eden Hazard scored a goal and set up two others Real Madrid began defence of their Champions League title with a comfortable 3-0 win at Celtic on Tuesday.
This season, Hazard opened his first goal and also the first since he opened fire in extra time against Elche in the round of 16 of the Spanish King’s Cup on January 20.
The Belgian midfielder entered the game in the 30th minute after replacing Karim Benzema. From being a doubtful choice, Hazard hone brightly in the second half to help Real make a difference.
Hazard sprinted and then passed the ball to Luca Modric to double the lead four minutes after starting the situation that led to Vinicius Junior’s opening goal in the 56th minute. In the 77th minute, the 31-year-old midfielder scored with his left foot pad, giving Real a 3-0 win.
Hazard scored after a string of 33 passes, the highest number of 434 goals scored by Real in the Champions League since the 2003-2004 season.
Real head coach Carlo Ancelotti admitted his side were forced to suffer before showing their class against Celtic. But the Italian has pleased with Hazard’s performance after replacing injured Benzema in the match.
“For the moment (Benzema) is nothing worrying. From the first evaluations it’s not too serious. We will wait to see what the medical examinations say in the morning. We don’t know yet if it’s muscular or not.” Ancelotti said.
“There were lots of winners in today’s game particularly Eden Hazard who has come through with goals and assists.
“He is very motivated to play. It wasn’t easy for him to come on because we were struggling in the first half but we coped better in the second half.” Ancelotti added.
