Carlo Ancelotti named his starting XI for Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey clash with Barcelona on Thursday and Eden Hazard was named on the bench.
Hazard has not played in a single Clásico for Real Madrid since joining from Chelsea in 2019. The first leg cup clash in the Spanish capital is Madrid’s tenth game against Barcelona since the Belgian forward moved to the Spanish capital.
In the 2019-20 season, he missed the Clásico games due to injury and the same thing happened in 2020-21. He then fell down the pecking order at the club with the emergence of Brazilian pair Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo Goes and his failure to find form.
Ancelotti didn’t use him in any of the three games last season and he was left out of the two games so far this season.
For Thursday’s match, Ancelotti chose Vinícius, Karim Benzema and Fede Valverde as his front three as Los Blancos look to defeat their Catalan opponents.
Kieran Quaile | GSFN
