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In what was a spectacular collapse on Sunday night, Real Madrid were on the receiving end of a 4-1 loss to Valencia, and the statistics continue to prove damning on Zinedine Zidane’s selection of Marcelo.
The Brazilian has long since ceased to be untouchable at Real Madrid, with Ferland Mendy playing the big games of the last two seasons, but when Zidane turns to the veteran, he is often left to see a disappointing display.
This problem can be summed up in a simple statistic: without Marcelo, Los Blancos have played 29 games and recorded 20 wins and nine draws.
With the former Fluminense star on the pitch, the story is different, as the left-back has played 28 games with 16 wins, three draws and nine losses.
Zidane’s nine setbacks in the league since he returned to the club have occurred when Marcelo has been on the pitch.
The French coach has always believed that Marcelo could return to his highest level and wanted to help him do so.
However, the truth is that it has not been successful, the old guard of the first spell of the French in command is, in general, no longer the giants that they once were.
Injuries have hampered the Brazilian’s final years, with the 2019/20 campaign in which Marcelo suffered four different ailments, while in 2020/21 he has been battling a back problem.
Zidane knows what the idea of Marcelo as a footballer can give his team, but the question is whether the defender is already that same footballer. The evidence suggests not.
He was so decisive on attacking plays years ago, forcing his own team to be aggressive when in possession, but now he’s struggling to generate the same number of chances.
Defensive solidity was never his strong suit, even at his peak, and that has become an even bigger concern with the offensive side of his game being stunted.
Mendy’s emergence as the true heir to Marcelo’s position has been encouraging, with the French defender prevailing in both phases of play.
However, the reality is that the former Lyon defender cannot play every game, and when you consider that Marcelo was chosen over Sergio Reguilón, he wonders if it was a mistake.
We will never know for sure how good the offers were for Marcelo in the summer, and if it came down simply to being a financial decision, as the club was looking to pay for the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium remodeling project, as well as funds to save for a possible move of Kylian Mbappé in 2021.
Regardless of this, Marcelo is not playing on the field and is playing as a shadow of the player that he was, and this is not something that will be tolerated for long in the Spanish capital.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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