Eden Hazard's umpteenth injury as Vinicius and 30-year-olds qualified

Real Madrid CF qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals against Italian side Atalanta. Vinicius Junior, the young Brazilian, brought a burst of pace and verticality to the Madrid attack. He missed a couple of clear chances, but he was awarded the penalty that made it 2-0.

Ramos (34), Kroos (31), Modric (35), Nacho (31) and Benzema (33) had a great game, showing that age is no obstacle to keeping in top physical condition. Real Madrid lived up to expectations by knocking out Italy's willing Atalanta 4-1 on aggregate.

It is surprising that in the same team there are veteran players like Real Madrid's starters who maintain a very high level of fitness and play, while others are suffering injury after injury.

Carvajal, Militao, Marcelo, Mariano and others have been injured in multiple games where the coach has needed them despite not having played many minutes during the season.

But the absolute injury record is held by Eden Hazard. Not even Robben, Kaka, or the legendary Prosinecki can keep up with him. The Belgian player has been injured one after the other. Eleven injuries in a year and a half.

It is worth remembering the case of Robert Prosinecki. "Lesionecki" for Real Madrid fans, famous for his bad habits, was considered to be the worst investment in terms of player recruitment at Real Madrid. In 1991 he cost 6 million euros. He was the best player in Europe. He had won the European Cup with Red Star. In this he resembles Eden Hazard. After Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden was perhaps the best player in Europe when Real Madrid signed him. And there was also talk of psychological reasons for his constant injuries.

Another bad investment was Brazilian Ricardo Kaka. He never reached in Madrid the level of AC Milan, where he won the Ballon d'Or. Florentino Pérez paid 65 million euros in 2009. In 2013 he would return to Milan for free. What a deal... Injuries prevented him from performing as expected. Above all, a knee injury.

We continue with the list of players who did not live up to expectations during their time at Real Madrid. Dutchman Arjen Robben arrived at the Bernabeu in 2007 for 36 million euros, at the age of 27. He played only 40% of the matches due to his continuous injuries.

He cost half as much as Kaka, but was never available at key moments of the season. Commercially, his level of advertising revenue was not comparable to that of the Brazilian. In 2009 he was transferred to Bayern Munich for 25 million.

Moving on to the rest of the Champions League play-offs, Liverpool had no problems in eliminating Leipzig 4-0 on aggregate. The same scoreline that Guardiola's City inflicted on Borussia MGladbach. Lazio were thrashed by Lewandowski's Bayern.  

Paris Saint-Germain, after their great first leg, did not suffer either to eliminate FC Barcelona (5-2). Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund were somewhat of a disappointment to see off Sevilla (5-4).

For their part, Chelsea struggled to overcome the always difficult and tough Atletico Madrid.

Cristiano and Juventus will not be in Friday's quarter-final draw. They drew 4-4 and Porto qualified because they scored one more away goal than the Italian side. The only mistake in our prediction of February 28th.

The Portuguese team Porto will be a priori the weak team that everyone wants in the draw. Bayern, PSG and City are the most in-form teams and everyone else wants to avoid them, but in this tie Real Madrid CF have been strengthened and their "young veterans" players still have a lot of football and a lot of physical display to offer. None of the remaining seven teams will like Real Madrid as a quarter-final opponent.