Real Madrid: A fresh Vinicius Junior and 3 key advantages over Granada

A terrifying fullback duo

Real Madrid don’t just have the best center back duo in European football, but they may also have a better fullback duo than Liverpool’s when measuring their defensive quality and consistency. Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy have been immense this season, and while their defense is the calling card over, say, Liverpool’s also-impressive pairing, they are no slouches in the attack either.

On Friday, Mendy won a penalty within the early minutes of the match to help give Los Blancos a 1-0 lead over Alaves. He’s also second on the team with two dribbles per game, which is outstanding for a player who allows only 0.2 dribbles per game himself! Victor Diaz is a nice player with five assists this season and is of great importance to Granada, but he will be in for a. torrid time against Mendy. Ditto for forward Antonio Puertas.

Carvajal has been just as good, if not better, especially since La Liga’s return. Rested after serving a one-game suspension against Alaves, Carvajal is averaging 2.2 tackles per game and 1.2 interceptions per game as a top-class defensive presence. He’s even averaging 1.4 key passes per game and is tied for second on the team with five assists.

Combined, Carvajal and Mendy make Real feel that much safer out wide and bring a lot to the table offensively. That will be important against Granada, who have a formidable attacking wide duo in Puertas and the criminally underrated Darwin Marchis.