Hazard injures muscle on day of Valladolid fixture

Real Madrid forward Eden Hazard's hopes of returning to action in Wednesday's La Liga game with Real Valladolid have been ended after he sustained a muscle injury on the day of the match.

Hazard, who returned to training later than his team mates due to fitness troubles, had been included in the squad for the home game with Valladolid but Madrid issued a medical report on Wednesday saying he had injured a muscle in his right leg.

The report did not say how long Hazard would be out for, although Spanish newspaper Marca reported he would be unable to play for between three and four weeks.

Hazard is therefore expected to also miss Sunday's game at Levante as well as Belgium's friendly with the Ivory Coast plus their Nations League fixtures against England and Iceland.

The Belgian forward joined Real Madrid from Chelsea last year for a joint-club record fee of 100 million euros ($117.13 million).

But his impact in Spain has been minimal due to two serious ankle injuries, leading him to make only 14 league starts last season and score only one goal.