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da stake casino： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
There’s been a lot of talk about Real Madrid and their perceived crisis over the past few months.
Sure, their form definitely dipped in the 2018/19 season and they only ended up winning the Club World Cup.
But after a horrible 2019 pre-season in which they conceded 16 goals in five games and a similar start to the new La Liga campaign, one thing was pretty clear – Los Blancos were really bad at defending.
Until last weekend’s clash against Sevilla, Real hadn’t kept a clean sheet in the 2019/20 season across all competitions.
But then the trip to Andalusia happened and even though Zinedine Zidane was without many of his heavy-hitters like Marcelo and Luka Modric, the Galacticos still came away with all three points for the first time in four years.
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And sure, Karim Benzema and Daniel Carvajal will get most of the credit for scoring and assisting the only goal of the match respectively but one player who was thrown into the fire and still impressed was Ferland Mendy.
Until last Sunday’s clash, the 24-year-old newcomer had only one game under his belt for Los Blancos in La Liga but he enjoyed an excellent showing versus Sevilla.
He registered three tackles and two clearances, while also combining well with his teammates going forward.
Three crosses, three out of five successful long balls and overall 81.8% passing accuracy can certainly attest to that. But it was his defensive shift that mattered even more and it made the absence of Marcelo almost completely unnoticeable.
The worst thing, however, is that he probably wouldn’t have been given his chance at all had Marcelo been healthy and fit to play.
But now that he’s actually taken advantage of the opportunity to prove himself, he has given Zidane something to think about for future fixtures.
In a way, Marcelo’s injury could be a blessing in disguise for the Galacticos if Mendy can continue his current form. Of course, this will also have to be put on hold due to an injury of his own but the quality and potential are certainly there.
Only time will tell.