Carlo Ancelotti has doubled down on his stance that Eden Hazard is a capable centre-forward, after he emerged from the bench against Celtic to fill Karim Benzema's shoes.
Ange Postecoglou and his team would have been forgiven by being caught off-guard when Benzema went off injured during the Champions League clash at Celtic Park, only for Ancelotti to turn to Hazard as his deputy No.9. Natural striker Mariano Diaz was on the bench while Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr, who were both on the pitch, have led the line before, but Ancelotti chose Hazard to move into the middle.
That wily tactical choice paid off with Hazard scoring one and teeing up another to help get Real 's Champions League defence off to a winning start at Parkhead. And with Benzema still not really fit, Ancelotti stuck to his guns against Mallorca on Sunday with Hazard once again picked to start up top.
This time reviews were mixed. As Real came from behind to win 4-1, Marca note that Hazard "made his presence felt with some tight pass sequences in the opposition box" but was also "invisible for large periods of the game" before his substitution on the hour-mark. Speaking after the game though Ancelotti insisted it's something he will happily use again in the future after the successful experiment against Celtic.
He said: "We had difficulties not because Hazard was there, but because the other positions weren't occupied by the others. Hazard can play centre-forward."
Speaking before kick-off, Ancelotti spoke in relative detail about his display against Celtic and how it influenced his team selection. He said on Saturday: "The idea I have is that Hazard, who has done well when he entered against Celtic, tomorrow I am going to put him on and hopefully he can repeat and play a good game.
"The system is the same. When Hazard came on against Celtic, we kept him. It may be that he doesn't have Karim's scoring streak, because he hasn't played for a long time. I'm not going to ask him to score goals, I'm going to ask him to play well to maintain a good offensive attitude.
"We don't have to lose the good streak we have in attack, combining well, having mobility. This does not have to change."
READ NEXT
