Real Madrid vs. Levante Takeaways: That was not the club we know

Alvaro Odriozola, Vinicius Junior disappoint again

Have you noticed how it’s the same guys who let the team down time after time? We can talk about how Real Madrid and Zinedine Zidane should have done better by Luka Jovic and Martin Odegaard, but there are a few other players outside the starting XI who continually disappoint the manager despite receiving chances.

Alvaro Odriozola had a huge opportunity in this match with Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez out. He was horrible. He should have done better on Jose Luis Morales’ goal, and his attacking contributions were as unthreatening as Ferland Mendy’s. Real received nothing from their fullbacks, but at least Mendy can defend well. What was Odriozola bringing to the table?

Meanwhile, Vinicius Junior had a full 35 minutes on the pitch for Eden Hazard to make an impact. Hazard, let’s be honest here, did not have his best day after lighting up Alaves for a goal and an assist last week. But Vinicius was even worse. His passing was inaccurate, he won zero dribbles, per WhoScored.com, and he did not look like a player capable of playing for Real Madrid.

The saddest part is that we have seen Vinicius excel for Madrid in the past. We know this isn’t his level. Yet here we are, talking about another dreadful performance from Vini, not long after his nightmare of a match against Alcoyano.