Real Madrid suffered a deflating defeat and an early Copa del Rey exit on Wednesday night, as they fell 2-1 to third-division side Alcoyano after extra time.
Zinedine Zidane gave some young players opportunities in this match, including goalkeeper Andriy Lunin and Castilla defender Victor Chust. But for the most part, he was let down by backup players whom he would normally expect better performances from.
Let’s ask five burning questions in the aftermath of this horrible loss.
What does the future hold for Zinedine Zidane?
There are three possible outcomes for Zinedine Zidane after this humbling defeat to Alcoyano. He could be fired, he could resign himself, or he could stick around until the end of the season (and then his position would be reevaluated).
Based on Real’s current issues and recent reporting, it seems as if Zidane will not be fired after this Copa del Rey loss. Though, honestly, I’d understand if Florentino Perez decided to make the decision. And I’d also understand if Zidane, finding it hard to juggle the demands of balancing youth with winning in the present amidst the high pressures at this club, decided to step away.
The criticisms of Zidane are justified, even as they can sometimes be unfair, considering he is not the only one to blame. It is a difficult situation to evaluate, but Real Madrid must be patient and pragmatic first.
Did Isco help or hurt Real Madrid?
Real Madrid gave Isco a start in this Copa del Rey match, which is a rare occurrence for the former Malaga man. Isco used to be a great La Liga attacking midfielder with the versatility to play in multiple spots, and he flashed his talent last season, especially in the second half of the campaign after more transfer rumors.
But it honestly seems like Isco must go. He tried hard against Alcoyano, but I came away annoyed with his performance, more than anything.
Isco had some nice dribbles, finishing the game, per Sofascore.com, with nine successful dribbles and seven fouls drawn. But Isco also didn’t contribute to any goals and completed 81 percent of his passes with 132 total touches. He had no tackles and one interception, offering nothing remarkable defensively either in recovering or in pressing for Real Madrid.
Basically, Isco had a typical “frustrating Isco” day, and that hurt the team. He had a lot of the ball, he dribbled it around, and he did precisely nothing with the ball. Real Madrid dominated possession with Isco pulling the strings, but what strings was he pulling, exactly, if nothing came of this possession?
Isco is a talented player. But for Real Madrid, he’s not nearly useful enough and isn’t a fit for what they need. Real need someone who is more incisive and does not need to dictate play on the ball as much. They need someone who can quickly diagnose and get the ball into dangerous areas, rather than a horizontal ball-carrier who cannot help defensively.
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.
Why was Lucas Vazquez the only one who tried?
Before the match started, Madridistas were nervous about an attacking trident of Vinicius Junior, Mariano Diaz, and Lucas Vazquez. And lo and behold, Vazquez was the only one of those three players who did anything worth praising in this match.
I have to say, Vazquez has impressed me a lot this season. Whenever Real have needed someone to step up as a leader, Vazquez has done so. He’s proved his value to the squad in a huge way, and while he wasn’t perfect against Alcoyano, he did absolutely everything he could to carry Real Madrid’s attack. Literally nobody else in the midfield or attack offered more of a threat than Vazquez. That’s not really high praise and more of a damnation of what we saw from the other players, but Vazquez still did his part.
His stats include seven key passes, three shots on target, five dribbles completed, five accurate crosses, eight accurate long balls, 13 duels won, two tackles, and five fouls drawn. Even across 120 minutes, those are great numbers for the right winger, who tested the on-fire Jose Juan multiple times. Again, that’s more than what I can say about Vinicius and Mariano, who did a grand total of zero to threaten Alcoyano’s goal.
Vazquez used to be a huge target for criticism from the fanbase, but he continues to show why he’s one of Real Madrid’s biggest bright spots. What a weird season.
What is the proper response to Vinicius Junior’s performance?
In light of Eden Hazard’s recent struggles, Madridistas have been wondering if an opportunity is open for Vinicius Junior to claim a start or two as the left winger in the 4-3-3. Vinicius hasn’t been used much lately as a substitute, and he should still be called upon more despite his horrible performance against Alcoyano. But at the same time, few will clamor for him to start over Hazard after seeing what he did in this match.
Vinicius was the worst player on the pitch on either team. I’m serious. It was frightening to see how poorly he played, and it’s to the point where I’m not even sure what’s going on with him. This is not the Vinicius we saw in 2018-2019, 2019-2020, or even the start of this season.
Let’s run down some of the errors. He nearly got Marcelo injured with a pass that was poorly-weighted, despite the fact that he had ages to ponder his move. The pass itself was also in a less-threatening position than Vini’s original spot. Vinicius regularly ran into defenders on the dribble without so much as putting in a move. He messed up a breakaway chance by kicking the ball straight at the goalkeeper when he could have done pretty much anything else. And he surrendered the game-tying goal in regulation by failing to mark his man in what can only be described as an amateurish mistake.
Statistically, Vinicius had one shot on target and one dribble completed with a big-chance missed and three offsides. The fact that he had only one completed dribble against a third-division defense is absolutely embarrassing, and he made more mistakes than positive plays.
Vinicius needs minutes. He needs confidence. But his mistakes are costing the team matches, as they did against Alcoyano. I don’t know what the proper solution is, and I don’t want to overreact. But maybe Vini truly does need the right loan move in order to fulfill his world-class potential.