Eden Hazard and Casemiro have both tested positive for COVID-19 and will be unavailable for Real Madrid against Valencia on Sunday.
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The Spanish giants confirmed the news on Saturday, saying that all other players and staff members have been tested and are negative.
Here is the statement from Real Madrid on Eden Hazard and Casemiro:
“Real Madrid CF announces that our players Casemiro and Hazard have given positive results in the COVID-19 tests carried out yesterday morning. All the other players and the coaching staff of the first team, as well as all the club employees who work directly with them, gave negative results in that same test carried out yesterday. Likewise, it is confirmed again that all, with the exception of Casemiro and Hazard, have given negative results in the antigen tests carried out this morning.”
Zinedine Zidane revealed that Hazard and Casemiro are doing okay, and added that Eden Hazard is ‘mentally strong’ and ‘is going through a tough time with his injuries but he’s in good spirits’ following his positive test for COVID-19.
“Casemiro and [Eden] Hazard are upbeat and doing well. They’re not happy about what’s happened, but in terms of how they’re doing mentally and physically, despite the tough nature of the situation, they’re fine,” Zidane said. “I’ve sent them a message and will speak to them later on. These things can happen and we have to accept the situation. We need to adapt to the situation and we know that it could be even worse. The same thing happened the other day to Militao. We need to accept it and continue working with the team, because that’s where our strength lies.”
Hazard just hasn’t been able to get a run of games since he joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2019. The Belgian wizard has suffered multiple injuries and contracting COVID-19 will now set him back again.
If he can recover from this quickly, he will spend the international break in Madrid and perhaps that will give him the base to kick on at Real in November and December in a pivotal few months in La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.