Real Madrid vs. Levante Takeaways: That was not the club we know
Real Madrid have serious depth problems
The injuries mounted for Real Madrid in this match, as they had to turn to Alvaro Odriozola again at the right back position with Eder Militao starting at center back. Both players had an afternoon they’d like to quickly forget. Militao had the early red card, and Odriozola was poor defensively.
But let’s talk about those subs. Real have come under fire for being too slow to adjust, but, in this match, Zidane was aggressive up top. I was surprised he took out Marco Asensio late in the match, as the goal-scorer was the best forward on the pitch by far.
Before that, though, Zidane took out Eden Hazard for Vinicius Junior, giving Vini a chance off the bench to shine after calls from fans to play him more. The youngster flopped.
And then Zidane made the risky decision to take out leading goal-scorer and assist-provider Karim Benzema for Mariano Diaz in the 81st minute, at the same time he took out Asensio for Sergio Arribas. Benzema has scored several late goals this season, including in the away fixture against Levante, so taking him out is risky, even if he had a poor afternoon at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on Matchday 21.
Mariano, though? Like Vinicius, he was even worse than the player he replaced. He made zero impact, just like against Alcoyano, completing one dribble with two off-target shots. Both Mariano and Vini worked hard, but the quality just wasn’t there.
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That’s the issue. These guys on the bench aren’t bad players. They work hard. Odriozola and Mariano can be quality players for a smaller club. Vini could be great one day, but he’s low on confidence. “But, but, but”, and we use all these qualifiers to avoid saying the simple truth: they aren’t helping Real Madrid win games. So then we blame the coach when the simple fact is that he can’t meet high expectations when his “B” team is more like a “C” team.
And now, in an economic crisis, we have to wonder how much this specific issue will get after the summer transfer window.