Salzburg 0-1 Real Madrid: 3 talking points 

Real Madrid played their penultimate game of their preseason campaign as they clashed with Austrian side RB Salzburg at the Red Bull Arena in Austria.

The Spanish giants have been one of Europe's biggest spenders in the ongoing transfer window and would be seeking to make a major impact next season, however, their preseason campaign has been far less than ideal, with Real Madrid winning just one of five fixtures till date in regular time.

They made it to consecutive wins with another victory over RB Salzburg, and this would get the players in an upbeat mood ahead of their last friendly with AS Roma on the 11th of August.

In this piece, we shall be highlighting three talking points from Real Madrid's victory over RB Salzburg.

#1 Eden Hazard finally opens his Real Madrid account

In a summer of multiple blockbuster moves, perhaps none ranks quite as high as that of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid, as though not being as expensive as others, his transfer has arguably the most weight in terms of expected contribution at his next club.

Real Madrid badly faltered last season, and Eden Hazard's arrival is expected to be the springboard to take them to their expected heights.

The Belgian international's quality is not in doubt, but so far in his Real Madrid career, it has not really gone to plan for Eden Hazard.

In five matches prior to this, all Hazard had to boast of was one assist and a couple of other lethargic performances. While much importance should not be attached to preseason form, Hazard's struggles were enough to cause fear in the hearts of Madridistas.

Given his supreme ability, it was always a matter of when and not if Hazard would show a moment of brilliance and that moment came in the 19th minute in the match against Salzburg. Receiving the ball on the left flank from Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard cut inside, before unleashing a trademark spectacular curler into the right-hand corner which the goalkeeper was only able to parry into the net.

He had a number of other notable chances and generally gave the Salzburg backline an evening to forget, as the 28-year-old was constantly full of running before departing the field for the returning Luka Jovic on 62 minutes.

#2 Generally much improved performance from Los Blancos

Real Madrid controlled proceedings from start to finish

As established already, Real Madrid have struggled massively so far during their preseason, with most of the players failing to get in tune with the tempo of matches.

A major shakeup was needed, and Zidane did so, filing his players out in a highly unorthodox 3-4-2-1 formation, with Marcelo and Dani Carvajal operating as wing-backs while Isco and Eden Hazard were deployed just behind Karim Benzema.

This extra presence in the middle was highly beneficial to Real Madrid, as they bossed proceedings from beginning to end and had almost total control of the game.

In total, they had 61% of possession which was the highest they've managed so far in preseason, while their total passes of 599 was also more than they have stringed together in any of their previous five matches; although their pass accuracy of 83% was down from the 89% they've managed in three of their prior five matches.

All in all, it was a very rounded performance from Zinedine Zidane's men and while their opponents on the night are not the strongest, he would be very pleased with the efforts of his players although he would be within his right to believe his side should have gotten more goals given their supreme dominance of the game.

#1 A clean sheet was finally recorded

Zidane's men finally kept a clean sheet

While not particularly famed for their defensive resoluteness, things reached an all-time low for Real Madrid during their preseason run.

In five prior matches, they had conceded a whopping 16 goals, with the seven conceded against city rivals Atletico Madrid in a 7-3 disgrace being the nadir.

For all of the world class players they possess at the back, Los Blancos did not keep a clean sheet in their first five matches of the preseason, but one was finally recorded at the sixth time of asking against Red Bull Salzburg.

In what was a complete performance from back to front, Real Madrid kept their hosts at bay for most of the match, restricting the perennial Austrian champions to speculative shots from distance, with just three of the 15 being on target.

Great defenses win titles, and while a lot of focus has been on Hazard and co. in front, Zidane would have also been worried about the shortcomings of his defenders and having finally kept things tight at the back, he would hope that this would become the new status quo moving forward.