The Scotsman

Hazard still to prove he can become a Galactico

- By MASSIMO MARZOCCHI

Eden Hazard has insisted he is not yet a Galactico as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Hazard is in line to play his first champions league game for Real at the Bernabeu Stadium tonight, against Group A rivals Club Brugge, confident he can reach the heights he scaled during his sevenyear stay at Chelsea.

He said: “I’m not yet a Galactico. I have to be the one to prove that I can become one.

“We know very well the last No 7 at this club and I have to be the first to prove that I can be the best in the world, enjoy myself on the pitch, give everything in training and matches.

“I don’t doubt my abilities or my technique and the more I gain confidence, everything will be better.”

Hazard has played in only four games since his £89 million summer arrival, one of them a 3-0 defeat at Paris St Germain in the opening round of Championsl­eague fixtures, at high injury having delayed his start to the season.

However, coach Zinedine Zidane is confident he will rediscover his best form after initially struggling himself when he joined Juventus in 1996.

Zidane said: “He knows we want more from him, but we have to stay calm. I’m not worried at all. He will succeed here and will be very good.

“You have to be patient with players who have just arrived. The good thing is he will not change. He needs more, but we will see it soon. If we can see it tomorrow, great.

“The same thing happened to me, but I stayed calm. I knew that in time it would work.”

Real did not reach the semi-finals last season, for the first time since 200910, and have lost three of their last four games in the competitio­n. They top the Laliga table after seven games but, asked which he would prefer to win, Hazard replied: “Both. When we start a competitio­n, we want to win it: Champions League, league, cup. When you play for Real Madrid, all we want and have in our mind is to win.”

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