Real Madrid: 5 burning questions from the humiliation at Alcoyano

How bad was Mariano?

Mariano Diaz had a couple of goals in 2020 for Real Madrid against top competition. He sealed a 2-0 victory over Barcelona en route to the title by scoring off the bench, and he had a quick goal in the 1-1 draw with Villarreal this season.

But aside from those two goals, Mariano has done nothing of note for Los Blancos. He works hard, but the bar is set so high for a striker at Real that he often falls short of what is expected at the position. The loss to Alcoyano was another example.

Mariano was the third-worst player on the pitch after Vinicius Junior and Alvaro Odriozola. Meaning, he was one of the worst players in Real’s worst match of the season.

As a striker at Real Madrid, you are expected to help in every facet of the game. And as a striker against a team like Alcoyano, you are expected to get into scoring positions and finish a chance. Mariano did absolutely nothing to help his team in this game.

Everyone is rooting for him, but the vast majority of Madridistas know that Mariano isn’t good enough. He gave us false hope that he could challenge for a spot after that goal against Barcelona, but that’s really it.

Mariano had 17 touches, one dribble completed, one shot on target, and fewer than 70 percent of his passes completed against Alcoyano. Those are awful, awful numbers that you never want to see from a Real Madrid striker.