Real Madrid: 3 players who must step up with Dani Carvajal suspended at Osasuna

RW Lucas Vazquez

Now we move to the player who will start on the right-hand side in front of either Alvaro Odriozola or Nacho.

Lucas Vazquez is currently in tense contract negotiations with Real Madrid, because while he has increased his value greatly this season, Los Blancos could very easily decide to walk away from the bargaining table if the long-time Madridista does not accept the wages they are offering. Real don’t have as much room to budge financially due to the pandemic, so that must also be considered.

From our vantage point, Vazquez is a player worth keeping at any reasonable cost. He has his limitations as a footballer, but his value stems from his effort and intensity. And those are two things Real Madrid need in order to win titles. Vazquez ramped up the intensity during Real’s winning streak, responding as well as anybody on the team when Zinedine Zidane needed 11 men to step up.

Vazquez will have to provide a lot of defensive work against Osasuna with Carvajal out. When he’s on the pitch with Carvajal, magic happens. When only Vazquez is available, he still does enough and actually tends to add even more to his game offensively to make up for Carvajal’s missing crosses.

The Galician forward had a goal and an assist against Celta Vigo last weekend and now has two goals and two assists in the 2020-2021 La Liga season. Don’t put it past him to add another assist on Matchday 18.